3/27/12
I got a new student from the homeless shelter today! He is so cute; he doesn’t talk much, except when he wants to ask what
time lunch is or when it’s time to go home.
Unfortunately, that was not the only
exciting event in my classroom today.
One
of the scariest things I’ve ever had
happen to me in my life, happened today. One of my students walked in from ELP (the Extended
Learning Program class) and complained to Mrs. Draper that she couldn’t really
feel her leg. Mrs. Draper told her to take a seat if her legs were bothering
her so bad, & I overheard the conversation & immediately jumped up from
my guided reading group. (I think the
Spirit really just prompted me to move in that instant.) I got to her just as
she stood and began falling to the floor.
She shrieked loudly; such a terrifying and terrified sound, and her eyes
grew wide as she screamed, “noooooooo!” She said something about “seizing” and
I immediately remembered how she’s written her personal narrative about a
seizure she’d had last summer. I gently lowered her to the ground as her eyes
got larger and her whole entire body started convulsing. She obviously had lost control over all body
functions, and began expelling gas uncontrollably as well. I leaned over my
shoulder and told Mrs. Draper to call someone, & she went over to notify
the office and call the paramedics. When
Maya came back to consciousness and had regained sufficient use of her limbs
after an intense five minute fit, she started crying and whimpering. Her mom had also been called, but unable to
make it there very quickly since she had no car & had to walk to get to the
school. I can’t imagine the panic she
was probably feeling as she made her way over to the school. Mrs. Draper eventually got my students to leave the
classroom & line up for lunch pretty quickly once the principal made it up
to my classroom. I had yelled at some of my students to quit staring at her,
& to return to their reading assignment.
(I later recalled the horrified looks on some of their faces, &
realized they couldn’t turn away; I wish I’d thought to get them out of the classroom
immediately.)
Once
Maya’s mom showed up, Maya kept whimpering & insisting that she didn’t want
to have to go to the hospital again, or be in a wheelchair the rest of her
life. I felt serious heartache for her
as she continued voicing everything going through her mind-why would God let
this happen when she’d prayed so fervently since last summer that it would
never happen again? As I talked her calmly, smoothing her hair back (which is
still somewhat of a miracle since I was panicky inside) tears rose in both of
our eyes. I told her it hadn’t seemed
fair to me either when I kept getting severe migraines as a missionary, even
though I was trying to serve God & do the best thing I could with my life
at that point. As Maya’s tongue became less
thick I could better understand her, & at this point she said: “I think
migraines aren’t as bad as seizures….I’d rather have a migraine every day!”
Poor girl; she really was upset by the whole situation, especially the fact
that she’d had a seizure on the floor in front of the class.
She
repeatedly told the principal & I that she didn’t want to die from this,
& we reassured her she wasn’t going to die.
She calmed down, & then I had to talk to the paramedics on the phone
to monitor Maya’s breathing with them. They also asked me to keep her on her left
side, which proved to be a somewhat difficult task since she kept wanting to
stand up so she could feel her legs. They took SO long to get there; 15 minutes
after the episode occurred. While we
waited, the principal asked Maya what her favorite song was so we could hum it
together, & it would hopefully calm her down. First we started with “Called to Serve” &
moved on to “I Am a Child of God” when Maya started panicking that she couldn’t
feel her legs again. I told her I would
pat them down for her so she could measure feeling based on whether or not my
hands were on her legs.
When
the paramedics finally showed up, they put an oxygen mask over her face &
she started freaking out about it & insisted she was getting too much
oxygen & kept trying to reach up & remove the straps. She kept telling
them she didn’t want to have to go to the hospital & that she was
scared. When they started asking her
questions like her name, her mom’s name, & where she was, she started to
close off to their questions (especially about how she felt.) She started
responding with “I don’t know” to everything they queried. She kind of dozed off at one point, & I
felt her little body relax underneath my hands. She was obviously exhausted
from the exertion during the seizure. We finally helped her sit up though &
walked her over to the stretcher, where I put the oxygen mask on her & then
they took her away to run some tests. (I had to talk to a doctor about all the
symptoms she’d exhibited during the fit later on that afternoon.) Once Maya
left my sight, I completely broke down sobbing; I had been holding it in,
trying to be strong for her so she wouldn’t get any more frightened than she’d
been, but it was also a very scary and unexpected experience for me.
