Monday, November 24, 2008

My Husband Saved My Life

Last Thursday in the wee hours of the morning, I had a seizure that made me bite my tongue so hard that it rolled back in my throat and cut off my airway. My husband woke up to me gurgling. He described it as the sound you make when all of the air is escaping your body. Thank heaven he is a First Responder. He preformed mouth to mouth and called 911. There is a fire station very close to my house so they probably arrived within minutes. I was taken to a hospital just to the south, in Parker, CO. I remember being aware of being in the hospital but I was very groggy. My husband said that I kept asking for my baby but I could not remember what his name is. Sometime later I was sent to ST. Joe's in Denver, where a bunch of tests were preformed.

All this time my four-month-old baby was at home with my mother-in-law really freaked out. He was in my bedroom when the firemen came and took me. It really scared him. I was told that he was upset all day and only smiled once and my baby is a pretty happy baby.

When I was finally released from the hospital it was only after a I finished an IV bag Dilantin, an anticonvulsant drug, which burned when it when into my arm. So they hooked it up to my other arm and it still burned but I had no other choice if I wanted to leave. Plus, the second arm the drug went in was left sore and bruised for days after.

So now I can't drive for the next three months, because that is how long I will be on the Dilantin and it can cause drowsiness and dizziness, both of which I have experienced. I can't breastfeed any more either because the Dilantin might hurt my baby too. The doctor in the hospital said it would be safe, yet I have to be on a very reliant birth control because it causes major deformities in fetuses and in a study of infants who where breastfeed while their mother were on the drug 7 our of 10 experience intestinal distress. So it could be safe, but I'm not going to take any chances and put my baby at risk. So now he is eating raw goats milks. Amazingly it costs less than formula and doesn't give him gas. I also have had some memory lose, mostly short term but some of my long term memories are little fuzzy too. Sometimes it take longer than usual to recall memories or do normal tasks like writing this blog.

The doctors aren't sure what caused my seizure. I have a bunch of tests next week to find the cause. I think it was caused by stress. But we shall see what the doctors say.

3 comments:

Brillig said...

Oh my GOSH! What an ordeal! I'm so glad your hubby knew exactly what to do. What a crazy situation!

I'm glad that you decided to stop breast-feeding. I'm sure you can look back now and see that his being able and willing to take a bottle is now a great blessing. And goat's milk is a good thing. He'll be just fine.

I'm glad you're okay!!!

Vana Powell said...

My Liz- I'm so worried for you. I hope you can get life to return to normal quickly. I'm sending you all my love! Miss you tonz. You'll be in my prayers.

Tessa Marie said...

Scary! Liz, we'll be keeping you in our prayers! Let us know if they find out what caused it!