Epileptic Coma - Rushed back to hospital

Last night as we went to bed we discovered Kay lying in a catatonic state in her bed. Her breathing & heart beat were normal but her eyes were open and she was completely unresponsive to any external stimuli. I called 112 and Marion called our GP who lives close by. Our GP arrived in a couple of minutes and checked out Kay's vitals, but there was nothing special to see. The paramedics arrived after about 15 mins and checked Kay out too with the same result. So she was unbundled into the ambulance and rushed to the Catherina EHBO. I left a few minutes before the ambulance and was waiting for it when it arrived. During the trip the ambulance had to stop to treat Kay because she had some sort of epileptic attack.

Once in the EHBO the medics started testing Kay's reflexes. She was completely unresponsive, scoring a 0 on their scale of measurement. They administered a drug, not sure what, which very slowly brought Kay out of the coma, firstly very small responses to stimulii in her arms, but by bit spreading through the rest of her system. However she remained unresponsive to aural stimulii, namely Mama and Daddy calling to her to get her to show some sign of consciousness.

I've not mentioned it before, I think, but Kay hates having plasters removed from her skin - she always makes a huge fuss about it. This time the medics had to replace the line into her portal, which meant removing a plaster from her skin. It was a relief to see Kay fighting them like a lion and three of us having to hold her down. But she remained only semi-conscious.

As her condition stabilized, blood was take for screening and she was taken for a CT scan. Since one of her original symptoms was headaches, Marion & I were very concerned that she might have a brain tumour. The paediatrician present was also concerned about the possibility of a bleed into her brain. I can tell you now that it was like taking part in an episode of House, but without the grouchy doctor.

Much to our relief the CT scan and blood work came back pretty clean, though the scan was a cursory one. The paediatrician talked to Nijmegen and the conclusion was reached that she had suffered some kind of epileptic attack as a result of the Methatrexate chemo that she had last week. Apparently this is an uncommon reaction to this drug, especially 10 days after it was administrated.

The upshot was that Kay was admitted to Catherina with the intention of moving her to Nijmegen today. I returned home at about 2.15am and finally fell asleep for a few hours around 3.30. Marion stayed at the hospital and hasn't slept at all, not least because Kay was under constant observation. Marion called me as I was driving home to tell me that Kay had spoken for the first time.

This morning I spoke with Kay and she is very disoriented and extremely upset. But at least she's back in the land of the living.

The latest news is that Nijmegen is so pleased with her progress that instead of being transferred, Kay will have an MR scan this afternoon to check things in detail and if that's OK she will stay in Eindhoven.

I have a meeting with Microsoft this afternoon, which I just don't want to miss. So I'm pulling myself together to make this pitch and then I'll be staying at the Catherina overnight, allowing Marion to be at home and, hopefully, to get a good night's rest.

Last night was the scariest night of my whole life.