Reader’s Digest Australia & New Zealand – May 2019

May• 2019 | 115

tospeed.Shealsoforcedherselfto

stopcrying,becausethetearswere

blurringhervision.

At thehospital whereConner

hadbeenrushedinanambulance,

doctorsruledoutaninfectionsuch

asmeningitis.Thentheysenthim

home.“Itcouldhappenagain,orit

mightnothappenagain,”oneofthem

toldHollie.Ifitdid,sheshouldn’t

worry.Hightemperaturescantrigger

anepisodeina developingbrain.

ThedoctorinstructedHollietogive

Connerpain-relieversifheexperi-

encedoneoftheseso-calledfebrile

seizures,alsoknownasa feverfit.

Jeffwas ‘scaredtodeath’when

Hollie called to tell him what had

happened.Hollie,though,wascom-

fortedbywhatthedoctorshadsaid.

WhenConnerhadmoreseizures–

afterhiseveningbath,whileplayingin

hisroom– sheimaginedthatsheand

Jeffwouldonedayrememberthese

episodesaspartofa passingphase.

AMEDICALMYSTERY

Twomonthsafterhisfirstseizure,

Connerhadanelectroencephalo-

gram,whichmeasuresbrainactivity

throughelectrodesattachedtothe

scalp.Theresultswereabnormal:

heenduredmultipleseizuresduring

theprocedure,somesosmallthat

hisbodynevervisiblymoved.Con-

ner was prescribed an anti-seizure

L-R)JeffandHollieBeishontheir

weddingdayin2006;Jaxon,six,

and Conner, three, in April 2016

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BEISH FAMILY