Jared's Angels: August 2013

Alyssa, Astro, and I outside of the Manti Temple during Girl's Camp

Alyssa turned twelve just a few days after girl's camp this year, so she was invited to go along. She was so excited!!! I can't believe that she is old enough to go to girl's camp! How did that happen? Because of her lovely seizures that go everywhere with her, that meant that I got to go along. I hadn't been to girl's camp since I was a Young Woman! We had a wonderful time. It was just our ward (our local church group), which was nice and it was fun to spend some time with some of the women in our ward that I haven't had the opportunity to get to know very well before.

Alyssa's days were wonderful. She made some new friends and was just so happy to be there. She is a happy soul and people are automatically drawn to that. I was the lone leader in the Beehive cabin (the 12 and 13 year old girls) because I needed to be by Alyssa and it was an adventure being in there with 14 girls! I purposely tried to keep my distance from the cabin during the daytime hours so that Alyssa didn't feel like I was hovering over her. Hopefully it was a good balance for her.

The first night wasn't too bad. Just a few minor seizures and a long night of giggling girls. The second night she had one big seizure but was ok after that, although one of the other girls was sleep walking and ended up lost in the cabin and couldn't find her bunk. Because of my years of listening for seizures, I sleep very lightly and hear everything! Every sigh, every bed creek, every word or whisper. I didn't get much sleep but Alyssa did ok.

The third night was an adventure. A crazy adventure. We were staying at a camp that had very rustic cabins. They had bunks that we put our sleeping bags on but there was no electricity and the bathroom facilities were across camp. It was the last night and as the testimony (fireside) meeting began, a thunderstorm rolled in. It was the perfect setting for the night. Half way through the meeting Alyssa was just exhausted and not feeling well so I got her back to the cabin and into bed. About a half hour later the other girls arrived. They were so sweet and tried hard to be quiet as they knew that Alyssa wasn't feeling well. A few minutes after that Alyssa had her first seizure. It was a big one and I was hoping that the night would be peaceful after that but I had a hunch that it wouldn't be. Sure enough a half hour later she had her second seizure. It was also a big one. Following her big seizures she isn't able to move or talk for a while after. As soon as she could talk, she told me that she needed to go to the bathroom. One slight problem with that request. The bathroom was clear across camp and there was no way that I could carry her that far. Luckily the Bishop (our ward leader) and one of his councilors were there that night. (There are always two male leaders at camp at all times in case they are needed.) I told Alyssa to hang on, grabbed a flashlight and ran through the rain and knocked at the cabin door where the men were sleeping. Brother Tolley wasn't asleep yet and was kind enough to come back with me to carry Alyssa to the bathroom. He was so sweet to Alyssa and made her feel as comfortable as she could considering the situation. I am so grateful that he was there. So we trekked across camp in the rain to the bathrooms. I carried the flashlight and had Astro as Brother Tolley carried Alyssa. We then repeated the scene back to the cabin.

Unfortunately, when there are two big seizures, they seem to keep coming. Sure enough, 20 minutes later her third big seizure hit. At this point I gave her her emergency meds. This seizure was bad enough that she started vomiting after it was over. Things were not going well. At this point I sent two of the other girls back up to ask Brother Tolley if he could come down and give Alyssa a blessing. I couldn't leave her at this point and most of girls were wide awake after all of the excitement so they were able to help. Brother Tolley kindly came back down through the rain once again and gave Alyssa a blessing. I was then able to get her into some clean clothes and got her tucked into my sleeping bag. Her seizures finally slowed down and although she continued to have small ones the rest of the night, the bigs ones were gone. As I got her settled in to my bed I then realized that I had no where to sleep! I pulled the sleeping bag off her cot, threw a towel over the vomit spots on the cot and pulled a blanket over me. It was a long night and the sleep walker hit again as well, but we made it! We made it though her first year of girl's camp and that was the whole goal!

She wasn't feeling so well the next morning and threw up one more time on the way home but she still loved it and was so grateful that she was able to go. All of the girls at camp got an award the morning before we went home. Alyssa received the "happiest camper" award. She deserved it. She loved being there and her happiness was contagious. And what a good lesson for all of us! Even if you have trials and things don't work out exactly how you want them to, we can choose how we are going to respond to the situation. Alyssa could have been embarrassed, and sad and ready to go home, but she wasn't. She didn't want her seizures to ruin her experience and so she chose to make the best of it and still have fun. I have said this many times, but my daughter is amazing!!!!!!! I am so grateful for her example. And, I am secretly grateful that I have to go with her on these excursions because I just love being with her!