Seizure Episode

We had a bit of a fright this week. This whole episode I think is completely unrelated to Connor's Craniosynostosis, but as it is head related I thought I would write about it.
Last Sunday we had a lovely day wandering around Park Slope and playing with Connor in the Old Stone House playground. Afterwards we walked down the street to grab some dinner. When we sat down to eat, Connor started getting upset. I thought maybe he was just fidgety and hungry so I tried to breastfeed him, but he wasn't interested. I decided to take him to the bathroom to change him. It was quite hot in there and he started crying and was not happy at all. He had dungarees on so I took off his shirt, washed his face and then took him back into the restaurant.
He was very hot and got very upset and then all of a sudden a giant rush of vomit came out of him and all over me. Two gushes and it was over. Naturally he was still upset. I took him to the bathroom to clean him and myself up and change his clothes, then walked outside with him in the cooler air. He eventually calmed down and cooled down. Consequently we decided it was time to go home. A pretty stinky subway ride home for me, covered in vomit.
Little did we know but this was the start of a virus I guess that the whole family picked up. A 48 hour stomach bug with vomiting and diarrhoea. Not nice - especially when one of us was supposed to be on babysitting duty. Connor was in better spirits than all of us despite the diarrhoea. Suddenly Monday at 5pm he started getting a little upset again. I think maybe he had a slight fever but I don't think it was anything too bad. Everything happened so quickly so I can't say for sure. He was crying a little and tripped over a cushion in our lounge room and hit his cheek on a wicker basket we keep magazines in. He now has a bruise there so I guess he hit it pretty hard but at the time it just seemed like another tumble for a new walker.
Unfortunately, it quickly progressed to something more concerning. He gave himself a shock and other times when something like this has happened he might start crying and maybe even hold his breath, which is worrying. This time I don't think he held his breath but he did pretty quickly stiffen up and start having what I guess was a seizure. His arms and legs rhythmically tensed and untensed and his eyes rolled up and he started gasping rhythmically. We lay him out on the floor and Michael put a small plastic spoon between Connor's teeth (although we now know that officially we should roll him on his side and not put anything in his mouth). After about two minutes I called 911. The seizure went on for seven minutes and ended just as the ambulance guys arrived at the door. He did a small vomit and then went limp in my arms.
We went in the ambulance to Jersey City Medical Center. They took the details of my description in the ambulance but did not take any of Connor's stats - temperature, pulse etc. When we got to the hospital we were taken into the Pediatric Emergency room but were then told by the nurse it wasn't an emergency. So we were taken to the general ER waiting room. And we waited. Connor had livened up and got a little upset at being in the waiting room for so long. I breastfed him and he fell asleep for half an hour or so. An hour and a half later no one had spoken to us. Michael went up to the desk to see what was happening and shortly they called us so a nurse could take Connor's stats. His pulse I think was 105/ 99 and temperature rectally was in the 98/99 region I think. Certainly not a fever by then. After I repeated the story of his seizure they sent us back to the waiting room to be called to be admitted. When nothing further seemed to be happening we decided to give up and go home and put Connor to bed rather than wait there any longer as it was already around 7.30pm.
The next day we were all feeling healthier and we took Connor to see his pediatrician, Dr Parikh at Riverside Pediatrics in Jersey City. She really is an excellent doctor with a lovely manner. She took all the details from us and checked Connor out and said she felt it was some kind of seizure and she would like us to take Connor to see a Pediatric Neurologist and have an EEG (Electroencephalogram - http://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/electroencephalogram-eeg-21508). Since it didn't seem that he had a fever at the time, she thought it was necessary to try to figure out the reason for the seizure.
When Connor was diagnosed with Scaphacephaly we had taken him to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York to see Dr Aron, a well respected pediatric neurologist. This was mostly because I hadn't appreciated the difference between a neurologist and neurosurgeon and when researching the best doctors in New York I had come up with his name. He checked Connor out at the time and told us he was fine, brain-wise and actually referred us to Dr Wisoff who did Connor's operation. He was a very nice doctor, so we decided it made sense to go back to see him. So far we have an appointment on the 29th of May. But for now we just have to wait to see him and find out the cause of the seizure.
I haven't done much research yet other than a quick read of what was said about seizures in "What to Expect The Toddler Years". But so far the only things that seem relevant are that he had the 48 hour stomach bug, had a possible fever, has had an operation on his skull and when he was around seven months he accidentally was dropped and landed onto the back of his head but didn't have a concussion and his CT scans were fine. Nevertheless we will take the CT scan from that hospital visit to show Dr Aron as well as his original CT scans from prior to his operation.
Connor at least is back to his old happy healthy self. For a few days he was quieter than usual and was very wary of any scenario where he might fall over - such as walking on the bathroom floor in case it was wet or walking around obstacles. He seems to have gotten over that now.