It all started two weekends ago, on a Saturday, after we came back from Melaka for a wedding. I felt that Khayla was a bit warm that evening, so I assumed she was getting a fever. Mr. Sunshine hugged her and she immediately fell asleep in his arms. When she woke up, I held her in my arms and felt that her body was getting hotter. I checked her temperature and it was 37.7 degrees Celcius. Although it wasn’t that high, she was unusually weak and pale, refused to drink milk and wasn’t playing around like her usual self. She was just clinging to me. I decided to give her a dose of Paracetamol syrup and bathe her.

When I put her into her tub, she starting shivering like nobody’s business. Lene & I actually teared up because we had never seen her like that. She didn’t stop shivering while I was dressing her up. I took a damp towel and dabbed her head and body in an effort to bring down her temperature. I tried talking to her and calling out her name, but there she was, clinging to me and staring into blank space. I knew something wasn’t right so I woke Mr. Sunshine from his nap. My exact words to him were, “Ayang, kenapa Khayla lemah semacam je ni ??.”

Suddenly, her eyeballs were rolling up, and her hands were curled up and stiff, fists clenched, and she was shaking vigorously. It took me a few seconds to register that she was having a seizure !
I PANICKED.
I passed her to Mr. Sunshine, put on my tudung and took a damp cloth with me. Lene drove (like a pro) us to the nearest medical centre, which was Gombak Medical Centre. In the car, she was still having convulsions and was not responding to anyone. Imagine the state of panic we were all in at the time !
I found a mineral water bottle and passed it to Mr. Sunshine and told him to pour the water on her (I soon learned that it wasn’t the right thing to do at the time). It was then that we heard her voice, so we knew she was awake. Her fit lasted for about 5 agonizing minutes.
At the medical centre, her temperature was 39.7 degrees, and she was shivering because the nurses stripped her to her diaper and were sponging her body. We were told to bring her to a hospital for further assessment.

We brought her to Selayang Hospital, she was groggy and unresponsive along the way. Her temperature was 39.8 degrees Celcius at the emergency department. They took her blood to determine the source of fever and to rule out meningitis. Her white blood cells were slightly elevated (usually a sign of presence of an infection) but the doctor told me she didn’t think it was meningitis or any infections of the brain. Khayla had to be admitted for monitoring purposes.

All of this happened within TWO HOURS !

Her temperature was still high throughout the first night but subsided the following Sunday morning. Alhamdulillah, she was slowly going back to being her old self that day. Alhamdulillah she did not have any subsequent fits. But since she already has history, there is a chance that it will occur again so Mr. Sunshine and I have to be really careful whenever she has a fever. Khayla was discharged on Monday. Her diagnosis was simple febrile seizure secondary to viral fever.

What are febrile seizures/fits ?

Simple febrile seizures are caused by fever in a child aged 6 months to 5 years. The single seizure is generalized and lasts less than 15 minutes. The child is otherwise neurologically healthy. Fever (and seizure) is not caused by illnesses affecting the brain.
Complex febrile seizures are usually prolonged (more than 15 minutes), or multiple seizures occur in close succession. 
Symptomatic febrile seizures occur in a child who has a preexisting neurological abnormality or acute illness.  Source.

Symptoms are uprolling of the eyeballs and/or shaking and jerking of the limbs and/or body stiffness.

From what I learned from the doctors in Selayang hospital, one-third of children who have febrile seizure will have another one, and about 50% of those will have a third. Isk isk. I also found out that parents who have had febrile seizures when they were a kid are likely to pass it on to their kids. Mr. Sunshine had three episodes of febrile seizures when he was a kid !

And now here’s the important bit, what you should do when your child has a febrile seizure ?

1. DON’T PANIC ! These were the first words in the pamphlet I received from Selayang Hospital. Easier said than done !

2. Quickly place him on his side, away from hard objects. Gently turn his head to one side so he won’t choke if he vomits. 

3. Make sure he doesn’t have anything in his mouth, and don’t put anything in his mouth while the seizure lasts.

4. Keep track of how long the seizure lasts (and try to remember !). If it goes on for longer than three minutes, bring him to the hospital.

5. If your child has difficulty breathing, if he’s choking, or if his skin turns blue, bring him to the hospital immediately !

6. If it was your child’s first episode – no matter how short it was – bring him to the hospital. This is to make sure he doesn’t have a serious infection or other problem that caused the fever.

7. Don’t try to lower your child’s fever during a seizure by giving him medication, putting him in cool water, or sponging him off. Oooops.  Source

I pray that nothing like this will ever happen again, but if it does, I need to learn to stay calm !

I shall write about Khayla’s experience with the Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) when I have spare time.

Goodnight all.
Assalamu’alaikum. 🙂

xoxo