Seizure Monday 4 April 2003

We were about to have lunch in the kitchen. time was about 12:40. I had already got some things out of the fridge. Paul came in. Next I knew he was muttering something, and heading for the floor to sit down. Tilly laid down on her bed which was near him.

He was sat there clutching his knees rocking slightly so I kneeled down behind and slightly to one side. I could feel the panic rising slightly as I knew what was about to happen. Tilly shot out of the kitchen.

Paul then cried out and his muscles went tense and started twitching. I caught him as he started to lean backwards and let him down gently onto the floor. He seemed to stretch out a bit so I moved the kitchen stools and rubbish bin out of the way. Both in case he got tangled up and to give me room. With him on the floor and no immediate danger I got up and grabbed my fleece which was on the hatch and placed it under his head. He was still twitching around abit. But not as much as I would expect from descriptions of full Tonic-Clonic seizures.

I lost track of time for a while so can't remember how long he was in the tonic phase. After a bit I noticed he was trying to breath. As he was on his back I tried rolling him over onto his side without much success. He was still twitching alittle and he was dribbling quite a bit of spit. So I grabbed his belt and hauled him over towards me onto his side. He was breathing okay if very noisily. Eventually he stopped twitching and relaxed abit.

After a bit more time he seemed to be coming round and trying to sit up. So I helped him to sit and started talking to him. He was not with it, 'post-ictal'. At one point he started pulling at my skirt, and rubbing my leg in a circlular motion whilst muttering something about "blanket". I couldn't really make it out though. I told him to stop and held his hands, but he tried to continue for a short while. I think it was about this time I looked up at the clock. It was about 12:55pm.

He obviously came round a bit more and wanted to lay down on the bed, so he somewhat precariously stood up. I held onto him in case he fell, and we sort of walked/stumbled to the bedroom where he quite literally dived onto the bed.

Over the next 10 to 15 minutes he gradually became more aware and coherent. But didn't know he'd had a seizure. He asked how he got there a number of times. Each time I told him he got himself there following a seizure. And each time it was a surprise and refused to believe it initially. Eventually it seemed to sink in. I continued to fill him in on what had happened until he understood. Time I think was around 1:20pm.

Since he was comfortable, I went in search of Tilly. She had apparently hidden in Paul's study under the desk. Her favourite place.

Paul dozed on the bed for a while. I dont remember when but at some point he was feeling hungry and suggested we should have some lunch. He went into the front room and sat on the sofa. Tilly came in and was obviously very pleased to see him. Doggy with a very waggy tail.