911

Have you ever been stuck in traffic and all of a sudden hear emergency vehicles out of nowhere? Lights in your rear view and sirens screeching through the air all at once. Your first instinct is always to get the hell out of the way. I’ve always thought to myself…Where ever their going, I sure hope they get there in time. Reality is, I know that isn’t always the case and sometimes it’s too late.

I remember that day like it was yesterday. I decided to meet up with my girlfriend from high school and we took our kids to an indoor bounce house for a play date. Bentley was almost 3 at the time. I’ve always been that mom that never let her child do anything because she was afraid something bad would happen. My son is the most precious thing to me and as his mother, it’s my job to protect him at all cost. I can admit though- sometimes I take it overboard.

The indoor bounce house was designed for children of all ages. Talk about a germ fest….ughhhh.  I watched Bentley bounce up and down with his play date. He was having the time of his life. After getting into a deep conversation with my girlfriend for a few minutes I looked up and didn’t see Bentley bouncing in the house anymore. My heart dropped a little and I just knew something was wrong. I dash toward the bounce house which was only a few steps away, only to see Bentley laying out as if he was unconscious. At that age he liked to play little games with me, but I knew this wasn’t the case. I began screaming his name to the top of my lungs asking him to get up. My voice began to shake so I jumped into the bounce house and scooped him up in my arms. All the while everyone is looking at me like I’m a crazy woman as I lay him down on the floor. With all the medical training I have, all that went out the window when my babies body was lying there limp. His eyes were rolled in the back of his head and I didn’t see his chest rising. I was already in panic mode, then it clicked. I was just about to start CPR on his tiny body. I gave it one last effort to wake him with another yell. Just as I began to attempt CPR he “came to” as if nothing had ever happened. Tears ran down my face as I grabbed and hugged him tight. He had a smile on his face and seemed not to have a clue what just happened.

Fast forward a few weeks and we’re at daycare drop off. As soon as he walks through the door, he faints. The same situation all over again. My heart drops and after a minute or so he “came to” I scooped him up and took him to the ER. At this point I knew something was wrong with my baby. He had one episode that shook me so bad I remember pulling over on the side of the road and calling 911. Sadly, the line was busy for 4 MINUTES. LIKE HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN? I thought for sure I was gonna lose my child. I remember riding in the ambulance with Bentley as the paramedics drove us to the hospital. Tears were rolling down my face because I didn’t want to think of what could possibly be wrong. After about six months of random test and medical professionals telling me that they couldn’t find anything wrong with him. I got so frustrated. He was still passing out randomly and the doctors started looking at me funny as if I was making this crap up.  We were finally sent to Children’s Hospital in Denver. They were so amazing there and took such great care of my child. Then finally they gave me a diagnosis. They diagnosed him with Epilepsy. His fainting spells were seizures. This was the last thing I thought of because he had no convulsions with these episodes. They ran even more test and finally placed him on medication which worked. Bentley hasn’t had a seizure in years, and he plays every sport there is. Super healthy kid. After being under the care of a neurologist here in Charleston for some time, he was finally cleared and able to be taken off the medication. I’ll never forget those days and what we both went through. ☹