The Story of the Seizure

You all know my father has Alzheimer's, so when my mom is out of town for her work, she must make other arrangements. Our city is blessed to have a wonderful senior citizens center, which specializes in dimentia and Alzheimer's. My father thinks he's a volunteer there three days a week. This week, however, since my mother would be gone, we planned for him to go all four days of her trip. Monday, I picked him up from the center and brought him home. We ate and he went to bed early. After awhile, he was back up and dressed, so I sent him downstairs to watch football with Cade. However, Cade came upstairs to tell me he was standing in front of the coat closet with the door open, but not doing anything and not responding to him. We called Mom, had Dad talk to her, and she got him to go back upstairs and go back to bed. When I talked to her later, she told me that at times he goes to sleep earlier than she and wakes up thinking it's morning. She usually has to go to bed herself for him to go back to sleep.

So, this morning, when he woke up at 5 AM, I just asked him to get back undressed and go back to sleep. I told him I'd wake him in time to go to work. It took him some effort to undress and lay down, but he did. Then I went to go lay back down--my alarm was set for 7 am. But not a few minutes later, I heard his belt buckle jingling again, and I knew he was getting dressed again. I went in to talk to him, thinking that if he'd rather be up, I could just stay up with him. But as I talked with him, I noticed that he seemed more confused, so I took baby steps. Do you want me to tell you the plan for the day? Do you remember that Mom is in Texas? You're spending the night with me and I'm going to take you to the center when it's time. But as I was trying to help him re-orient, his arms twitched and he let out two weird gurgles. Then he stood up and lurched at me. I'm moved out of his way, which meant he fell head first into the desk where I was sitting. Then he fell to the floor and started twitching. I could hear his watch rattle back and forth on his arm, he was shaking so violently.

I screamed for Cade to call 911, that Dad was having a seizure. There was blood, and I thought he might have gashed himself on the desk, but I couldn't locate the source of the blood. I kept saying the Jesus Prayer over and over, switching up the "have mercy on me" part for "have mercy on my Dad" every so often. After Cade told the emergency operator where to find us, I spoke to them to tell what was happening. By that time, the seizure was over and Dad was breathing heavily, which I've been told is normal for seizures. I think the whole episode must have taken about 3 minutes, but it felt like an eternity.

The EMTs arrived shortly, maybe ten minutes after the seizure started, but it took them awhile to get him on the board to carry him out to the ambulance. He woke up when they started moving him and he was very combative. They had to restrain him, which made it worse for him, since he is claustrophobic (in the lay sense). While they were doing all of this, I tried to reassure him with my voice and words, praying the Jesus Prayer and telling him I was there and I love him. At one point, he looked at me and said, "Father," with a great deal of effort. I immediately said the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father..." Cade suggested that I sing to him, and the only thing I could think to sing was a Psalm "Hear my cry, Oh Lord, Attend unto my prayer. From the depths of the earth, will I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I, that is higher than I." He seemed to search out my voice, but never to see me with his eyes. As he began to speak, the words were prayers. "Oh, help me! Help me, Lord Jesus! Oh, Glory! Halellujah!" He was even praying in tongues in the ambulance, and the driver asked me if he was usually this incoherent. I said, "He's pentecostal. This is normal!" Still, his prayers had a sense of desperation to them, and I think he was very afraid of what was being done to him, and everything worked against him being able to understand. Anyone coming out of a seizure would be disoriented, but the Alzhiemer's and the claustrophobia combined made it so much worse for him.

At the hospital, my sisters met me there, and because one of them works at the hospital, we were able to all three be with him in the ER--against ER regulations. They sedated him, but he still was very agitated. We sang for him, which seemed to help him calm down, but it was several hours before they took him off the board, which freed up his legs to move. Then, hours later, they let him sit up and took of the wrist restraints. Another hour or so later, they removed the neck brace. Not until all those restraints were off of him did he finally calm down. He didn't get admitted until about 11 AM, so all that time he was in the ER. After being moved to the room, he was able to relax and sleep for a couple of hours. Just after he woke up, at around 1 PM, Mom arrived from Texas. Then, he was off for X-Rays and an EEG (which is what my sister who works there does). After that, visitors from their church started coming in to see Mom and Dad. Cheryl and I left for a couple of hours, went back for dinner together, and overall, we've seen marked improvement in Dad's condition. Whereas in the ER, he couldn't remember how many daughters he had or my name, he is now pretty cognizant of everything except for why he's in the hospital. No matter how many times I tell him he had a seizure, he can't remember.

Doctors are enigmatic concerning cause, but the consensus is that he must be on anti-convulsant meds for the rest of his life. He has to remain at the hospital until those new meds are regulated. There is some blood on his brain, but not enough to require surgery, and they said it is possible he will never have another seizure.

Thank you so much for your prayers. I appreciate all of you so very much. It was such a comfort to know I could count on you to lift us up today.