Rough Night for Jon

For those of you who are interested in what happened with Jon, here is the story.

He came to bed late Monday night (Dec 29). It was about 3:30am. He had been playing Rock Band, watching TV, and having a hard time sleeping because he wasn't feeling well. He got out of bed to go into the bathroom, then yelled out to me (waking me up) that something was wrong. Then he collapsed to the floor.

I thought he may just be asleep or passed out from getting up too fast, but I couldn't wake him, so I called 911. They told me to get him onto his back and make sure his airway was clear, which I did. He was sweating and breathing very strangely. I also noticed that his legs were stiff and his jaw was locked and he was biting his tongue. I concentrated on making sure he was breathing and gave him a little air at one point when he stopped breathing for a moment (I didn't wait to see if he would start up again on his own). At this point, I looked up to see Joey standing on the doorway, so I sent him back to bed.

Slowly, Jon started to come out it (5-10 minutes had passed). He opened his eyes, but wasn't seeing anything. Then he started to look at me with a terrified look. Then he tried to talk to me, but his tongue would not work, so it was really muffled. He seemed extremely confused.

Once the firemen got there, I stepped out and called my parents, who rushed over. The paramedics asked me a lot of questions, trying to figure out what was going on. Jon became very combative with them. He wouldn't keep the oxygen on his face or let them take his blood pressure. He was hitting at them and yelling (still muffled).

It was a long time before they finally carried him into the living room and onto the stretcher. He was still fighting them. I tried to talk to him to tell him that he would be OK and I would see him at the ER, but he didn't recognize me or seem to understand.

In the ambulance, an EMT gave him two medicines to fight a drug overdose because he was sure that's what it was. At one point, his blood pressure bottomed out (something like 75/45). He also stopped breathing again, and the EMT gave him a chest rub to get him going again.

The fireman had called my brother, who met them at the ER. He got Jon out and had to talk to the ER doctor to explain that it was not a drug overdose. Jon recognized Chad and talked to him a little bit, which were the first good signs. By the time I saw him, he was able to talk and was calm, but was exhausted. They immediately started talking about a possible seizure.

The hospital admitted him and moved him to a private room. As time went by, he became more and more himself. They spent most of Tuesday testing him. Everything looked good. There was no damage left behind.

By Wed morning, they officially determined it was a seizure. The neurologist also said that an episode that he had in 2005 was also most likely a seizure but it was misdiagnosed as a panic attack in the ER.

He started on anti-seizure meds right away. He is mostly back to normal now. He is really tired. He can only do so much before he needs a nap, and his memory of the last week or so is a little foggy.

We appreciate all of the people who helped us out and who prayed for him. It was very scary, but we are happy with the outcome. The neurologist is very confident that the medication will keep him from having any more seizures.