Ammie's Biff and Barf at Costco last night

Once again, the seizure monster barged in and took over our life.

Daddy was at work and the kids have cabin fever so we decided to jump in the truck and take a trip 45 miles (and thousands of feet lower in elevation), to the southern city of St. George where spring is beginning to unfold. It would give me a chance to pick up some staples at Costco and after dark we would go to the Dollar Movie. Cedar City has neither of these and on our budget precisely where we can most afford to visit. We were also hoping for an afternoon at the park.

I should have seen the signs that maybe things wouldn't be as planned when it started snowing soon after we left. While it wasn't snowing when we arrived in St. George it was pouring down rain. We did some shopping and ended up at Costco about 5:15 PM. We squeezed our way through the concessions line and loaded up on pizza slices, smoothies, frozen yogurt and hot dogs. Those hot dogs. You know those mega sized hot dogs. Ammon ate one and a half and much of a smoothie. He was IN HEAVEN!

We zipped around and got our oversized toilet paper bundle and other Costco prizes and made sure to take a trip to the restroom where everyone was ordered to use the bathroom. Ammie shuffled into a stall and as usual needed my help to unbutton his pants. I stood behind him as he tried to go and felt him start to crumple. I was able to catch him as he was toppling face first into the toilet.

Heretofore, I have kept my radar out for possible drowning sites for Ammie in the face of a seizure. The toilet has never been on it. Now it has been added to my danger list.

I didn't want to lay him on a bathroom floor and scanned the room for a better option. I spotted the diaper station and yelled for Shayna to pull down the table. I laid him down and assessed his breathing. As we spoke to calm him a woman came out of a stall and kindly asked if she could help. I told her I thought we would be okay and she let me know she was a nurse and if I needed anything to let her know. She gave my shoulder an empathetic squeeze as she passed by me towards the door. No sooner had she exited then Ammie started choking and then let loose with projectile vomiting FULL of chunks of hot dogs out of his nose and mouth. I quickly turned him on his side and screamed for Shayna to find the nurse who just left the bathroom.

The vomit kept coming and coming and I was wiping his nose and mouth as quickly as I could. The nurse was quickly by my side making sure he was breathing and not aspirating the vomit into his lungs. Before Shayna could get back from the truck with Ammie's rectal diastat to help stop a seizure, he rolled his eyes and was back with us. I peeled off his retch covered shirt and asked Caden for his jacket. We wrapped him up and carried him out to the car and secured him into his carseat.

With eight children somberly buckled in their seats I sighed, "Sometimes its really disappointing isn't it?" I didn't need to spell out that there would be no movie tonight. They had already guessed that as Ammie started dozing off in his post dictal state clutching the jumbo box of his beloved Goldfish to his chest.

Once at home Ammie wanted to cuddle right up in his newest treasure. One of the CHIWaitingkids listmates made the most cozy Scooby Doo blanket in bright teal and orange. It arrived in the mail just a couple of days ago. I could tell his world was still spinning as he tried to find a place that felt safe for him. He started on my bed, then his little bed next to mine, then the floor. His body was warning him in needed to stay low, stay in a place where falling in a seizure would keep him most safe. All the while he dragged his new blanket from spot to spot and then finally felt safe enough to fall asleep for the night wrapped up from head to toe.

It is still another two months before we can anticipate the results of his MEG and MRI.