Zack's personal chauffeurs

Talking about what happened is just fine. Thinking about what happened when I am all alone is another thing.



On Sunday night, we went to bed before midnight. Zack got up around 4 o'clock in the morning to use the restroom and then got back in bed. The next thing I knew, it was 6 o'clock am and I was staring at the ceiling wondering why I was awake. I wasn't tired so I just lay there looking at our bedroom windows. All of a sudden Zack let out a loud, painful sounding growl. I called to him but he didn't respond. He immediately began to have a grand mal seizure. You know, the kind where they shake and bounce all over the place. I flipped the light on and futilely tried to get him to snap out of it. I grabbed the phone off my dresser and called 911.


I have had so many dreams where 911 has put me on hold and I desperately hoped that wouldn't happen. As I tried to tell them our address and what was going on, I was shaking like a leaf trying to get Zack to wake up. He continued to seize for at least 20 seconds, which seemed like forever. Finally, he stopped.


The woman (my personal angel) told me to put the phone down and roll him over. I finally was able to get him on his back but he still wouldn't regain consciousness. At least he was breathing, though it was ragged and weird sounding. He was asleep! The nerve ;) I grabbed my robe and ran down to open our door so the paramedics could just run upstairs when they got there. They are 1 mile up the street and it only took 2 1/2 minutes for them to arrive. Let me tell you, that is an eternity with something like this.


Once they arrived, they tried to get him to wake up and took his vitals. Still no response from Zack with the exception that he would open his eyes for a second when they would call him by name loudly. They told me that they would take him to the AF hospital and that I should meet them there. They brought up a special chair with straps to take him down the stairs - another reason why I want a rambler! Anyway, they had to revive him a little to get him to be upright in the chair. They called him again and he started to look around. It seemed to kind of freak him out that there were 8 uniformed men in our bedroom. They told him why they were there and then he immediately fell asleep again. They brought him down the stairs, put him on the gurney, and then rushed him out the door.


A few of our neighbors were there by the time they took Zack out and the 911 dispatcher had called my parents so that they could come help me with the kids. We had a great deal of support which I will be forever grateful for.


I drove to the hospital all the while having a nice, long begging session with the Lord. The hospital let me right in to see Zack and he was still really out of it. My dad showed up and then about 15 minutes later, our home teacher arrived. They gave Zack a blessing and I finally began to relax. The ER doctor diagnosed him with a seizure. Wow...really? You think?


It was about noon by the time we got home and he slept nearly the entire day and all through the night. He actually went to work the next day. Man, that's so not me...I'd milk it for all it was worth! He had a CT scan which was normal, and just had an MRI done yesterday and plans on having an EEG on Tuesday. Next Wednesday he will see a neurologist which I predict will diagnose him with Epilepsy. For a few years, he has had weird "dizzy spells" which, if I am right, are actually mini seizures called "Aura"s .


In a way, I hope that this is epilepsy. It's treatable with medication...otherwise, if it's not, then we are back at square one. The only physical thing that you can see that says something happened to Zack is that he now has red stripes on his shoulders and chest where the straps from the special chair held him in. It's a little weird for Zack for sure. All he remembers is going to bed after using the bathroom and then he was waking up in the ambulance.



Oh, here's a little tidbit for all you sports fans...The ER doctor, his little brother is Steve Young.