Tuesday, May 3, 2011

A BIG Thank you

I have been overwhelmed (in a good way) by all of the emails, phone calls, comments, and text messages received after I posted my previous blog entry "Is He Gone". I first want to say thank you for all of your kind words of encouragement, your prayers and your warm thoughts for CJ and our family. Much of our family and friends were really there for us and it assured me that in the future no matter the situation, we will always have people to "lean on".

I also wanted to send out a huge thank you to those who responded to the 911 call that day, as well as the staff at the hospital. It amazes me how strangers can sympathize with your situation and even when your having a mini break down can somehow always say the right things to calm you down.

After the post I received a few emails with questions on how CJ was, and questions about things that happened that day...

First, CJ is 110% better! He is back to his happy, hyper dare devil kid and we have not had any more bouts of fever. I still check on him SEVERAL times a night, and I sure this will continue for a while. And yes, I have maybe gone a little overboard with the wet wipes, but I am doing everything I can and more to ensure the germs stay away from us!
Now to answer a few questions- first being regarding the situation with CJ not breathing during/after the seizure. Like I said in the post, he was eating Cheerios. It is possible that when the seizure started he began to choke, it could have been stuck in his throat and later swallowed- I really don't know. According to all of the research I have done a febrile seizure alone should not cause a child to stop breathing, HOWEVER- all research states to place the child on their side to ensure they do not choke if they vomit, as well as making sure they don't have anything in their mouth. Now when the seizure began I didn't know that was what was happening and I didn't do any of that. So to answer the question of why he stopped breathing- I don't know. I do however know the steps to take if this ever happens again.
Another question I received was why I didn't give CJ a dosage of Tylenol when his fever was rising so rapidly. The reason is, I called the pediatricians office and spoke to a nurse. She actually told me she has many parents call her and say that they do the Tylenol/Motrin every 4 hours dose and this is not something she would recommend. This is why he was not given any more medication before we reached the hospital. The hospital staff ensured us in instances like this, when a fever is so persistent- Tylenol/Motrin every 4 hours is okay. (PLEASE NOTE I AM NOT RECOMMENDING YOU DO THIS WITH YOUR CHILD, PLEASE TALK TO YOUR CHILD'S DOCTOR REGARDING MEDICATIONS!!!) I brought this up to our actual pediatrician when we followed up with her and she stated she would speak with the nurse about the whole situation.

I know that some people have shrugged this off as not a big deal, and may think I'm dwelling on this. People are welcome to think this if they wish. To me it was and still is a big deal. But I am not dwelling on what could have happened anymore. If anything it has helped me to not put off things for later, because you never know when later wont happen. I want to take every advantage to have fun with my Little Man. I am trying to plan that trip to the zoo, and maybe HOPEFULLY that trip to the beach later this year. We've been enjoying time with friends at birthday parties, enjoying playing at the park and at Monkey Joe's. Enjoying family time, movies and ice cream. We are saying less "maybe we will do that tomorrow." and more "ok let's get ready now!!!".

And no, I am still not completely over what happened. I still think of everything I could have done differently to prevent what happened, but like I said- I'm not dwelling on what could have happened. I am preparing myself for the fact that it may happen again.

Thanks again to everyone for your love. We are so very lucky so have so many great people in our lives, and I hope you all know how very much you mean to us!

Here are some pictures since Little Man's been feeling better... back to his silly little self! And please excuse the drool, he's cutting some molars!