Foosball Man

Last night Caleb was sprinting down the football field, returning an interception for a touchdown. Actually, he did it twice. This morning, he feels like “a dummy on a foosball table.”

“I feel like someone could grab the handle and spin me around,” a perfectly Caleb-esque way to describe his lack of control over his body that just suffered a second major epileptic seizure.

It was nearly 4 a.m. when Jon and I were startled awake by the scream. We’ve heard it before. We knew instantly what it meant. It’s a scream that defies all description.

We rushed to Caleb’s room where we found him attempting to sit up but not at all conscious. His body was twisting and contorting as his muscles started contracting fiercely. We lay him down and the convulsions began. They lasted the better part of a minute.

Though his coloring was grayish and his breathing labored, we were relieved that he never did stop breathing entirely. When the convulsions stopped, we rubbed him, talked to him and encouraged him to keep breathing. I ran my fingers into his clenched fist and slowly smoothed opened his stiff fingers. His gazed looked into my eyes but I knew he wasn’t seeing me. He was sweating profusely.

Within an hour he was able to converse with us but was unaware of what had happened. Though none of us slept much after that, Jon remained in Caleb’s bed, not wanting to leave him. When morning finally came, Jon tested Caleb’s memory. It’s amazing to me that his body can endure that kind of trauma, but that his memory remains intact. He could remember everything we’d read in our scripture study before bedtime and could recollect every player’s number from his football team. (And they just got their jerseys last night!)

Why did he have this seizure? It’s all my fault, really. His medications had run out on Saturday and though I’d called in the refill earlier last week, I hadn’t yet it picked up. I feel awful that I have played a part in this happening to my son. I think we’d grown lazy, wondering how dependent he was on the medications. We don’t wonder anymore.

Caleb still feels wobbly but will be back to his normal self in no time. Hopefully he’ll be running back down that football field tomorrow night!