Oh What Night
QUICK UPDATE:
Katelyn is sleeping soundly in her bed right now. Thank God! I”m about to go to bed myself! After a visit to her pediatrician we were sent to Boston’s Children’s Hospital for some tests. Her regular pedi was stumped as to why Katelyn had that huge episode. She was tested for strep and that came back negative. They did another throat culture where the results won’t come back for 48 hours. This test will show whether or not she has a strain of strep that causes hallucinations called PANDAS. She did have a red patch in the back of her throat.
The doctors at Children’s did a couple of minor tests, asked a bunch of questions and released her with a clean bill of health. They said they didn’t think there was anything really wrong with her and that it was just a freak episode! She had a couple of little freak outs at the hospital but nothing compared to the hysteria of earlier today.
We’re hoping for a peaceful night!
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It’s 7:30 am as I begin writing this post. We’ve all been up since 3:30 am. Is one of us sick?
Nope. Unless you count mentally.
Katelyn has been in her own, pardon my language, personal Hell since 3:30 am. I’m at a loss as to what to do right now. She woke up at 3:30 screaming that there were bugs on her and in her bed. If only turning on the light and showing her there were no bugs had worked. Even with the lights on she was hysterical, hitting herself, trying to tear her pajamas off and screaming bloody murder. We thought maybe she was having night terrors or sleep walking. She was wide awake. Nothing could convince her that there were no bugs on her. She would calm down for a few minutes and then start screaming and hitting herself all over again. She would hit her hands, her feet and flail about, screaming.
Absolutely NOTHING was working. She wouldn’t walk on the floor without “skating” on a blanket because she was terrified the bugs would get on her feet. We had to change her pajamas and underwear because she swore there were ants in them and the were crawling up her butt.
And every few minutes she would start screaming hysterically that they were on her again and begin to hit herself.
It was awful to watch. I almost felt like she was demon possessed! I felt like I was watching something out of a nightmare. If she’d has something sharp she probably would have cut herself with it. I began to cry myself, at one point.
We sprayed Febreze all over her room and on her clothes telling her that it was bug repellent. She believed it for about thirty minutes and then started pointing out that I hadn’t sprayed her butt, her “noo-noo” her neck or the bottom of her feet and bugs were getting on those parts. She begged me to spray all of those parts. Which, of course I wasn’t about to do. She kept asking how long the spray lasted to keep the bugs out. All the while still feeling them crawling all over her. She was super jumpy and constantly freaking out and hitting herself and her clothes. She would scream ” Ack!!… WHAT”S THAT? There’s a bug RIGHT THEEEERRE!” And then we would point out that there was nothing there and she would go ” oooh…”. She saw them all over her bed and in her blankets. She would ask for us to hold parts of her shirt so the ants couldn’t get out. Then begin to tear at her clothes and scream and scream and scream. Nothing could convince her that it was in her mind. If anything touched her whether it be the ruffle on her sleeve, our hand, the tag on her pants or her blanket she would start screaming all over again.
After a while Madelyn started to cry because Katelyn was scaring her.
Mike prayed with her and reminded her that Jesus was watching over her. We read a story. We had some water.We gave her a glow stick so she could look over her body with it.
We finally let her and Madelyn into bed with us. That didn’t help! She saw bugs in our bed too. She would start to kick and scream again. She then peed in our bed from all the crying and screaming. We let her stay naked for a bit because bugs were all over her clothes. She swore they were trying to get up her butt. She then decided to put her nightgown on but didn’t want her underwear. There were bugs in them. I had to throw them into her room before she would stop screaming about them.
This may sound funny but it wasn’t. It was a nightmare. Her tortured screaming was awful. There was nothing we could do!
We all tried settling down and going to sleep but we couldn’t. With Katelyn screaming, crying, flailing and kicking every few minutes no one got any sleep. She sat up curled in a ball moving the glow stick around herself so she could see if there were bugs near her. She laid next to me and asked me to keep my hand on her. But that didn’t help. The bugs were still there and the screaming continued. At one point I was laying on my back and she was laying completely on top 0f me so she wouldn’t be touching the bed.But somehow, the bugs reached her even when she was on top of me.
By this point it was 5 am. Mike had to get up to get ready for work. The girls and I stayed in bed. Every time I thought Katelyn was calming down and about to go to sleep she would start screaming. She started begging me to get the bugs off. Begging and begging. It broke my heart. If there had been anything I could do I would have!! I would pretend to get the ants off her and she would asked to see them. When there was nothing in my hand she would scream ” Nooo. You didn’t get it!! There’s nothing in your hand!!”
Nothing I said helped. Showing her over and over again there were no bugs ANYWHERE didn’t do anything to calm her terror.
We finally got up about 6:00 am and she begged to put on different underwear and get dressed. So we did and she went downstairs. I thought the daylight and being up would help.
It didn’t. She continued to scream, hit herself and tear at her clothes even wide awake, in morning light and in the living room. She came running up the stairs at one point, screaming, holding her sweat shirt out telling me to get the ants out. I had to pull her away from the top of the stairs because her hysteria was about to send her toppling down. We took off the sweat shirt and she was fine for a bit. Then she began to scream that they were in her underwear so off came the pants and undies.
She’s currently sitting on the couch, naked, wrapped in a blanket and watching t.v. Madelyn is completely asleep next to her. It’s been about thirty minutes and there’s been no screaming. It’s the longest period of quiet we’ve had since 3:30 am. I hope it continues.
She won’t be going to school today. I’m going to give them both a warm bath later this morning. That should help. I may put some of my lotion on her and tell her it’s “special”. I desperately need to go grocery shopping today and I can’t have her ripping her clothes off and screaming in the middle of the store.
I feel terrible for her and hope last night was a one time thing! I’m completely dumbfounded and at a loss as to how to handle this!
We’re all exhausted as well. I’m hoping we can all nap later today.
Please pray for Katelyn if you think about it today.
