It started Friday, August 4th. His dad was watching him so when I picked him up he had a scraped knee. I didn’t think anything of it, he’s 5! I asked him about it, he said he fell not a big deal I thought. He was acting different that day, he wasn’t interested in swimming or anything he normally enjoys.

I thought maybe he was getting sick but I knew something was wrong. Later that afternoon I was in the shower and I heard him crying so I ran out of the shower to see what was wrong. He said he fell and hit his elbow. About a half hour later we are sitting at the dinner table, and I see him falling out of his chair so I caught him and NOW I’m freaking out! I take his temperature Low grade, nothing exciting 99.9 I call his father and ask him how he fell because I didn’t see the first 2 falls. Was he running? Did he trip on a curb? He said no, actually he was holding my hand and just walking.

I call my Uncle who is a Dr and my Mom who is a Nurse and I also spoke with a nurse from a 24 hour pediatric clinic. They all said fevers could cause dizziness treat the fever watch him. While at the mall I see him collapse again I pick him up and take him to the local ER. Catscan, blood work, chest X-ray , urinalysis Diagnosis vertigo due to a virus. I slept with him and in the morning I left his room while he sat on the floor reading. I was brushing my teeth when I heard him crying again.

My heart sunk because I knew he had fallen again and he was lying on the floor. His speech was slurred rushed him to All Children’s Hospital in St. Pete. I told the staff in the ER that I think he is having seizures and gave them the history from the past 3 days. They said they were going to hook him up to some monitors and to let them know if I think he’s having one so they could figure it out. Before they start an IV take his vitals, and hook him up to the monitors I see his head drop so I scream for the staff and they said yes that is a seizure . 15 minutes later I watch him start to shake and go into a full on tonic-clonic. I call for every one again and I run towards his head to make sure he doesn’t aspirate. He was given Ativan and cerabrex . He had a horrible night!

The next day was horrible again his speech was slurred, he was angry staggering and trying to pull his EEG off every 10 minutes now screaming ” get this hat off of me! “. On his way down to have an MRI done he informed us that when he falls first the room spins then he falls in slow motion. First 5 day visit. September 28th, August 4th and 5th he had 3 breakthrough seizures. In the meantime I’m calling his Dr’s office trying to find out why. I insisted on having his levels checked. He had 3 seizures on the 5th. September 6, 2 seizures in the morning . Gave him Dilantin . He has a 3rd seizure at home and another one an hour later. Then a tonic-clonic in the bath tub that I had to pull him out of. The next morning he has another tonic-clonic in the hospital room. The Dr. Watched on EEG switched him to depakote. Depakote apparently did not work for him. He had 14 seizures that week. Back in hospital 10 day visit this time. EEG back on. He wasn’t having any seizures. He has a cluster then he goes a week seizure free.

Day 8 he has a few small seizures I knew he would have a grand mal in the morning and he did. Dr. Winesett put him on Zomisade. It was working for him but made him angry. Dr Winesett wanted to switch him to Lamictal. We are still in the transition phase from Zonisamide to Lamictal he is taking both. He has had 3 seizures in three months so major improvement. I am always scared but I know everything happens for a reason. I am very optomistic that he will grow out of it but if he does not we will just take things one step at a time.