Seizures

» diannecrumbaker - Febrile convulsions

My granddaughter began having Febrile Convulsions when only a few months old. She recently had her most serious seizure (lasting 10 min. while she suffured an interruption in breathing) and was hospitalized for 4 days at Children's Mercy Hospital in K.C. Children's Mercy is considered one of the best facilities in the U.S. but we received contradictory information from the Pediatrition and the Neurologist. For example, the pediatrition advised that her failure to breath was significant and that we should learn mouth-to-mouth resusitation while the neurologist reported that not breathing for a few seconds was just part of the seizure process and should be ignored. Some Web articles advise that we should be ready to preform mouth-to-mouth resusitation while others advise against it. I'm so confused! I certainly don't wish to make a deadly mistake in the case of my granddaughter!
Ironically, I worked for United Cerebral Palsy for several years and became desenitized to seizure activity.The philosophy at the time was to get the child out of harms way, time the seizure and let it take it's course; pretty much doing nothing but let the child sleep it off. This worked well for children who weren't related to me but, again, seems pretty lax for my granddaughter.
Obviously, I'm scared to death. My granddaughter was born in Ecuador while my son, his wife and daughter moved to the U.S. in August '05. I wonder if she contracted some type of bacterial infection while in Ecuador (can't drink the water there) but none of the medical tests have confirmed that.
Does anyone have experience with febrile seizures and, if so, how have you handled the disruption in breathing? I would greatly appreciate any advice or reassurance you could offer.
Dianne

-- posted by diannecrumbaker

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