Tyler's Story
My son Tyler is 5 years old and is an extremely
smart, loving, and a wonderful child. He is my youngest of two and even
though he is 5 years old, I still call him my baby. In
2009, Tyler suffered a mysterious seizure while at daycare. After a
series of testing nothing was found to be wrong. The specialist advised
my husband and I that if he didn't have a reoccurring seizure within 6
months it was more than likely he would never have one again. So we
nervously made it to the 6 month mark seizure free and in June 2011,
while cooking dinner and having friends over Tyler had seizure 2 while
playing the Nintendo Wii. It was ironic that his daycare teacher who
was present for the first seizure was my friend that was over for dinner
that evening. I had never seen anyone have a seizure and watching my son
experience this made feel extremely terrified and helpless. I
remembered calling my aunt who's an RN and she coached my friend and I
through the 2 minute ordeal until my husband returned from the store and
the EMTs arrived. Again we went through a battery of testing and a lot
of time spent in the ER.
Over the next couple of months we were seeing the neurologist on a regular basis, blood work was taken often, we had several MRI(s) with sedation, and again another EEG, which all resulted as being normal. Over time our family began to struggle emotional because now the seizures began to come more frequent.
Seizure 1: Nov 12, 2009
Seizure 2: Jun 8, 2011
Seizure 3: Jun 23, 2011
Seizure 4: Aug 13, 2011
Seizure 5: Aug 22, 2011
I began to focus my attention more on Tyler because I didn't and couldn't understand why this was happening to my baby. I silently became a nervous wreck. The doctors recommended that we keep a close eye on Tyler and in my mind he was not to be out of adult sight at any time. Unintentionally, I missed the signs right away that my 8 year old was suffering because she witnessed almost all of his seizures but oddly showed no signs of being affected by seeing them. However, as time went on she became distant to her little brother and didn't want to be near him. So after a few family talks, time, and a needed family vacation, she has come around. After seizure 3 together we decided along with the doctor to begin medication to assist in controlling them. In the beginning it didn't seem effective but after several adjustments with the dosage we have been getting through each day seizure free.
Throughout the process I began to journal about every seizure, doctor visit, every test done, all results, and I pre-write a list of questions to be answered before every doctor's visit. This is not to be over protective but I've learned that I have to take control and be accepting to my son's illness by being self-prepared and aware of epilepsy. My husband who is military will be deploying in less than 2 weeks for a 6 month period and this has sparked some fear as to what will I do if Tyler has a seizure while he is gone because even after seeing him through 5 seizures I still feel uneasy but as another way to be prepared I've decided to get recertified in CPR through my local Red Cross. This is Tyler's Story.
Over the next couple of months we were seeing the neurologist on a regular basis, blood work was taken often, we had several MRI(s) with sedation, and again another EEG, which all resulted as being normal. Over time our family began to struggle emotional because now the seizures began to come more frequent.
Seizure 1: Nov 12, 2009
Seizure 2: Jun 8, 2011
Seizure 3: Jun 23, 2011
Seizure 4: Aug 13, 2011
Seizure 5: Aug 22, 2011
I began to focus my attention more on Tyler because I didn't and couldn't understand why this was happening to my baby. I silently became a nervous wreck. The doctors recommended that we keep a close eye on Tyler and in my mind he was not to be out of adult sight at any time. Unintentionally, I missed the signs right away that my 8 year old was suffering because she witnessed almost all of his seizures but oddly showed no signs of being affected by seeing them. However, as time went on she became distant to her little brother and didn't want to be near him. So after a few family talks, time, and a needed family vacation, she has come around. After seizure 3 together we decided along with the doctor to begin medication to assist in controlling them. In the beginning it didn't seem effective but after several adjustments with the dosage we have been getting through each day seizure free.
Throughout the process I began to journal about every seizure, doctor visit, every test done, all results, and I pre-write a list of questions to be answered before every doctor's visit. This is not to be over protective but I've learned that I have to take control and be accepting to my son's illness by being self-prepared and aware of epilepsy. My husband who is military will be deploying in less than 2 weeks for a 6 month period and this has sparked some fear as to what will I do if Tyler has a seizure while he is gone because even after seeing him through 5 seizures I still feel uneasy but as another way to be prepared I've decided to get recertified in CPR through my local Red Cross. This is Tyler's Story.
