The Febrile Fit

Just two weeks prior to his 2nd birthday, Petit Harris caught another bout of URTI ( upper respiratory tract infection). he had been having runny nose, mild dry cough and a subtle hoarseness of voice for about 1 or 2 days followed by a fever. We had noticed the intermittent fever the day before but thought it is just a low grade temperature, not worth to annoy him with anti-pyretic med and he was jolly well active.
However, the next day, while he was playing around us, he suddenly fell to sit, with a blank stare. his papa quickly took him onto his lap.he continued to be unresponsive to call, stared blankly slightly upward, and his saliva started to drool. there was no jerky movement or limb stiffness. the whole episode lasted for  good 4-5 minutes. i realised he was febrile at that time. trying not to be panicky, we applied wet cloth onto his body and (luckily) i went to Klinik 1  Malaysia earlier that day to get a few packet of suppository paracetamol for home stock ( knowing Harris who will vomit back  syrup med).

he was drowsy for a couple of minutes post ictally, and Alhamdulillah back to his normal self after that. I made sure he had no other neurological deficit ( by doing full neurological examination ).  I don't think he needed any biochemical investigation as the presentation  and age wise was rather straightforward suggestive of simple febrile fit. therefore , i just observed  him at home by taking leave a couple of days. we gave him 6 hourly suppository PCM  with regular tepid sponging especially when he had temperature spike. after tthe fitting episode, i made my husband went to the pharmacy to buy a thermometre stat, for precise temperature monitoring :D

he developed parenteral diarrhea the next day. poor boy had to endure pain from the perianal excoriation. so torturing to see him in such pain every time  he purged. but this forever playful boy is so active in between. running around in broad based gait ( due to perianal pain) and throwing toys all around the house as usual.  we applied topical zinc oxide cream to soothe the discomfort and i think it did work :)  he fully recovered day 3 after the seizure and i can't stop thanking God for the speedy recovery.

One thing i learn from this event was that, fitting was a scary scene especially if it happened to your loved one. i have seen countless febrile and afebrile seizures before, but when it happened to my own son, the emotion and anxiety level were totally different. i was able to maintain good composure through out the event but only God knows how scared I was at that time.

i had a history of febrile fit myself once during my infantile period. so did my younger brother. hence, it was no surprise that it could  occur to my son. May this be first and the last for him. will be more cautious the next time he caught a fever.

je t'aime toujours Harris dear