One of those calls in the night

Early this week we had quite a scare.   Monday morning at 4:45 my cell phone rang next to the bed.  I looked at the number, didn't recognize it, and let it keep ringing.   A few seconds later I had a voice message, so I sleepily listened and then became wide awake.   The call had been from an ambulance driver telling me that Erik was being transported to a hospital nearby.  He had had a seizure and fallen on his face and the residential living facility thought he should be sent to the ER.  While getting dressed and trying to wrap my mind around this, a caregiver from Erik's home called to tell me what had happened.  She said as a result of the fall, he'd cut his face and was bleeding a bit on his head.  When we arrived at the hospital Erik had been taken for a CT scan.  He was wheeled back into the room he seemed confused, dazed, not sure where he was or why his head hurt so badly.  He kept holding his forehead and scrunching up his eyes in pain.   There was an IV in his arm which he really didn't like.   The ambulance guys came in and told us he was alert and awake on the drive over there.  After he arrived, the doctor ordered blood work and cleaned up his contusions.  Good news, the Cat Scan and blood work results came back negative, no abnormalities.  I asked if Erik could be given something for his headache and that was done.  And then we were free to leave.  We were to watch him for symptoms of a concussion and let them know if anything else happened. 
So that day ended up being a long day of tending to Erik.  Poor guy, he was not himself, in pain and very tired.  Pain meds eventually helped, as well as food.  (you know that always works for him.)  Many dear friends were lifting him up in prayer.  As the day progressed I began to see his bottom lip swell up, like he'd been punched in the mouth.   When he fell, he must have cut it too.  He started looking more and more like Chuck Norris had had a swipe at him.  I tried to tease him about that but he wasn't in the mood.  I didn't blame him.


Thankfully, the next day he was back to his normal self, laughing, teasing the people at Elmcroft and me.  Ahh, I felt like I could let out my breath a bit.  Today I'll take our sister's dog with me to visit him, he'll love that.

The day after;  tough on the outside, sweet on the inside.

I know that older Downs are susceptible to seizures.  So the news that Erik had one didn't come as a surprise to me.  We've wondered if Erik is experiencing some dizziness lately.  We'll be keeping a watchful eye.  Do any of you know of older Downs who experienced seizures?  I'd be so grateful to hear about it.