Jeremiah's Seizure

Today is a day of celebration!

I am thanking the Lord for what he has done. Today marks Jeremiah’s six months with no seizures. I apologize for taking so long to make this entry but it’s hard for this mother’s heart. I’m going to take the time to explain what happened in the physical and then what I believe to have happened in the spiritual as well.

Here We Come Phoenix

We left Huntington Beach, CA to head directly to Phoenix, AZ. We decided to skip San Diego because we felt the Lord was wanting us in Phoenix. Since we began this journey we have never had any trouble finding a place to stay at an RV park. With the help of our handy dandy iPhone apps (Good Sam, RV Parky, etc) we not only had access to the parks location but also had their contact info to reserve a spot and we could look at pictures and see the reviews. We did not, however, anticipate the highly populated area of Phoenix to be the ‘Snowbird’ capital of the world. Nearly ALL the RV parks had age restrictions on its tenants or had a NO CHILDREN policy. Let’s just say we had to search outside of Phoenix for our immediate stay.

We settled into Casa Grande, AZ a suburb of Phoenix and while there found a new sport that the boys love to play. Pickleball happens to be the fastest growing sport in America. We had never heard of it until we arrived here at the park. After getting a lesson on the rules from a kind older gentlemen we began having daily competitions. What is Pickleball? (www.usapa.org) It’s a cross between ping pong, badminton and tennis. You play with a slightly larger ping pong paddle and hit a wiffleball and play on a smaller tennis court. With a family of boys there is always competition, but some snow birds take the competition to a whole new level.

We arrived in Phoenix in time to have the pleasure of seeing a dear friend teach and lead worship at a local church. It was a joy to see her and it was an ordained appointment. We told of our journeys this far. I say this because she plays an important role in the spiritual side of things.

The Seizure

On October 27, 2016 the boys went out to play pickleball. Jeremiah tells me afterwards that his legs collapsed on him while playing that morning. I didn’t think much of his statement, he is a growing 14 year old boy. The internet was not working at the RV resort so we headed to the local library after lunch to do school work. Jamie dropped us off and ran some errands.

I was actually working on a blog entry and the boys their school work. Jamie had only been back a few minutes when Jeremiah’s arms shot up in the air and he made this awful moan. At first glance I thought he was stretching but that thought only lasted a second when I realized something was wrong. Jamie said, “I think he is being shocked” so he pulls his chair back. I said, “I think he is having a seizure.” With no hesitation, a lady named Tammy (an angel or someone God planted there for us) asked if he had ever had a seizure. We answered no. She asked if we knew what to do. We answered no. She simply took over the situation and helped us get Jeremiah on his side so he wouldn’t aspirate. As this is happening Jamie, Josiah, Zechariah and I were in full prayer mode. We didn’t think about it, it just came out. I do love that that is our first reaction as a family is to call on the name of the Lord.

This woman that we didn’t notice before this event that just happened to be within a few feet of Jeremiah when he had his first seizure was an off-duty Emergency Medical Technician. I propped Jeremiah’s head on a backpack as his faced turned completely blue. I sat there praying for my child feeling that this was a spiritual attack on my family. Not knowing exactly what I am praying against I prayed in the Spirit. I can only imagine the scene we were causing in the Library. As we held Jeremiah on his side, Tammy went and called 911 and her friends at the Fire Department down the street. As quickly as he turned blue he started breathing again and his color was coming back. Within minutes there were trained personnel on the scene that knew what to do and were administering care to him. I know that in a traumatic experience that 1 minute can seem like hours, but in this event is was not like that. God had placed people in the right place at the right time for this exact moment. We as a family were all together at the library, which minutes before was not the case. Tammy, a fully trained technician, was right next to Jeremiah.

Ambulance to Local Hospital

As they are loading up Jeremiah into the ambulance, they ask us if we know where the hospital is located. We again answer, “No.” The library handed Jamie directions as we left and I jumped in the ambulance with Jeremiah. At the Casa Grande Hospital the doctors ran tests and are tried to figure out the source of Jeremiah’s seizure. At this point he is awake but not responsive. As they take him back to do an MRI, Jeremiah has 2 more seizures. They had to intubate him to prevent damage to his lungs and administered medication to help immobilize him so they could do testing. The doctors at Casa Grande quickly realize that he needs more specialized care and initiate procedures to transport him to Phoenix. It just happens that one of the best pediatric neurological hospitals in the US is in Phoenix. Another event orchestrated by God. Because we are near Phoenix my sister, Halee, and brother-in-law, Drew, were able to pick up Josiah and Zechariah and take care of them. Right time, right place.

Helicopter to Children's Hospital

Jeremiah was taken by helicopter from one hospital to the next. Jamie and I arrive at the children’s hospital in the Pediatric ICU where we were greeted by Jeremiah’s doctor and team of nurses who are already there and in the room and have already started the task of trying to figure out what triggered his seizures. I will say that the hospital and staff at this hospital is incredible. I have never seen such care and concern for even the little things as I did at this hospital. While there they gave him more medication because he was still moving and they needed him to stay still for the MRI they wanted to perform. They eventually gave him a dose of medication that was a paralytic. This did work for a while but wore off quickly. The nursed continually commented how strong he was. I watched as multiple nurses and doctors tried holding him down. As test after test came back normal, (MRI, EEG, EKG, blood, virus and bacteria) we knew were in a spiritual battle. We had no idea what Jeremiah’s condition would be when he awoke from the medication. Jamie and I began calling and texting our prayer warriors. From the east coast to the west coast Jeremiah had a formidable prayer group praying for him.

The Wait

Jeremiah was taken off sedation medications Friday. We expected him to come to within hours, at least that was the expectation by the staff but it was more like 24 hours. Each hour that passed was so hard. I just longed for him to open his eyes and say something so that I know that my Jeremiah is in there. On Saturday morning October 30th, Jeremiah opened his eyes for the first time since Thursday afternoon. Jamie looked at him and asked him, “Can you hear me Jeremiah?” His response was, “Yeah!” (Dripping in sarcasm and teenage eyeroll) He immediately went back to sleep due to the high dosage of medication he was under the influence of. This was the first sign that He was going to be alright. The tests continued coming back negative for anything to spur a seizure. The doctors asked if he could’ve taken any drugs. We told them that was impossible. They looked at us funny as if we are naïve. We explained to them that we have been traveling in an RV for the last 3 months and there is no way you can hide anything. We are so close there is not much secret or private. This intrigued them because then the doctors wanted to do a panel of tests for infectious diseases because we had traveled so many places. Jeremiah was tested for everything from Lyme Disease to Ebola. (yeah, really) Jeremiah thought this was kinda cool later on that he had been tested for Ebola.

Over the next 24 hours Jeremiah was becoming more like himself but it was slow and he was having a hard time remembering things. But it was sweet relief every stride he made from recognizing his grandma’s voice over the phone to his brothers when they would come and visit. We had lots of laughs because he was not quite himself but enough to keep us in stitches. It was a laugh fest when his brothers would enter the room. And believe me laughter is good medicine and good for our souls! Monday morning Jeremiah was released from the hospital. All tests came back normal and did not reveal any answers to the cause. He didn’t have to take any medication for seizures. He was told to resume normal activities. Neurologists said everyone is allowed one seizure and that if it were to happen again that it was 90% likely to happen within the first six months. And this is why I celebrate today, six months no seizures!!!!

The Spiritual Side

Now allow me to write about the spiritual side of this attack. I am not going to pretend to have all the answers here so please don’t build any theology around what I am trying to convey. The word of God and the Holy Spirit has our answers. There are things every day that we come in contact with that we have to decide whether to allow into our life and participate in or not. We base these decisions upon the way we are raised, time, relevance, fun, importance and good vs. evil. The question we should be asking is what measuring stick do I use? Do I use the world’s measuring stick? Do I use God’s measuring stick? A Ouija board in the world’s eyes is simply a board game that is harmless. In God’s eyes it is a device that is evil and causes destruction. (Deuteronomy 18:10-13) In Galatian 5 it speaks of this struggle of which measuring stick we should use and the constant fight within us to go back and forth. So here was my personal struggle.

Pokémon Go was introduced the summer of 2016 with great fanfare. We never allowed our kids to play with Pokémon Cards or watch any of the movies when they were smaller. We couldn’t put our finger on it, but we just felt that it wasn’t something we wanted our kids participating in or watching. When our kids came back from church camp and they mentioned that some of the leaders at the camp were playing it and we thought we might be just a bit over zealous preventing our kids from participating. So, we downloaded the game as a family. We thought if we saw anything bad or a check in our spirit we would immediately erase it and have the boys do the same. I already had a check in my spirit prior but as we traveled from state to state the game became a fun adventure in our destination and we played together as a family. We explored, we played, we connected. Jeremiah was the most consumed with this game, he would research and give us all the details. We even bought him a t-shirt in Yellowstone with a Pokémon on it. The day he had his seizure he was wearing this shirt. My mother-in-law, Jan, wanted to buy a shirt for Jeremiah to wear home. When Jan purchased the shirt, she asked me if Jeremiah would like this. I didn’t know why at the time but I wanted to say no don’t. I knew he would like it, so without a good excuse I said sure he’d like it. (there’s my second check in my spirit that I ignored)

We are on our way back to the RV and pull into the drive when I get a text from my friend I mentioned earlier. She was trying to be very sweet and not offend me. Within her text said something like “When I was praying for Jeremiah I saw that stuffed Pokémon that is on his bed”. She did not offend me she broke in with truth that I already knew in my spirit! I explained to my family the text and what I knew to be the truth. With no hesitation, Jeremiah changed his shirt. We trashed the shirts and stuffed animals and deleted everything from our phones. I marched in anger at the enemy to the dumpster denouncing any attachment on my family. If you google seizures and Pokémon there are quite a few articles. Pokémon TV show in Japan in 1997 that reported over 700 seizures 20 minutes into the program. It was later referred to as the ‘Pokémon shock’. Do you remember that I said earlier that Jamie thought that Jeremiah was being shocked? Jeremiah’s physical fight was real but it was even more real in the spirit realm. I watched him in the hospital bed moving even though he was sedated to the max for his weight. His spirit man fought and all his prayer warriors fought alongside him. I am forever grateful for the prayers that were released on his behalf. Thank you!

It took a couple of weeks for Jeremiah to be to think clearly and recall things but Jeremiah made a full recovery. We are doing are best to follow what and where the Lord wants us. The enemy is so scared that he is doing all he can to stop us. That just means we are getting close and it’s about to get really good! Jeremiah is a mighty man of God that will do all that he is called to do.

‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ Jeremiah 29:11