Panic Attack

I got a call from the school nurse Friday. My Cookie was hyperventilating and I needed to go get her.
This isn't normal for my daughter, but it had been a really really rough day for her. She had a presentation in her English Honors class. She even had to get dresses up to present the speech.
She was prepared for the event, the speech was great, she knew it by heart. She had taken a very nice outfit to change into for the presentation as well. The day was going great, she went to change, and in the process lost her cell phone. She reported it missing, went and gave her speech, then went back to speak with the campus officer. On her way to talk to him, she wasn't feeling so great. He took her right to the nurses office. That's when I got the call. Mark made it to the school before I did, he called and said "Mom she doesn't look right" I asked him to bring his sister home, I would meet them there.
She was doing better by the time we made it home. I put her to bed and within an hour she was fine.

I figured, stress. Big things happened that day, stressful things. Things outside her comfort zone.
She was fine over the weekend. We didn't do anything wild or crazy. All was well.

Today 9:14am, the school nurse calls, Meg is hyperventilating again. She needs to be picked up.
9:38 I am on the 101 freeway when the next call from the nurse comes in. She didn't want me to be alarmed  when I pulled to the school, but she had called the paramedics. Cookie was not doing well.

I followed the fire truck the last mile to the school. I entered the nurses office right behind the med team. My baby was on a cot, stiff, unresponsive, her eyes were foggy, kind of glazed. Her breathing was super shallow and rapid. Her arms and hands were cramped and blue. The nurse said Cookie had stopped breathing completely twice. That's when she called 911.
The paramedics gave her oxygen, and hooked her up to all their equipment. I touched her face, her hair, talked softly to her. Within a few minutes she was calming down. Within 15 more she was coherent and able to talk. Her vitals were good. There was no rhyme or reason for this one. Nothing happened out of the ordinary to cause it. The paramedics said they didn't see the need for the ER, so I took her home.

I made an appointment and had her into the DR within a few hours (after holding her on the sofa while she napped). We didn't get to see our primary doctor, but an associate. He took her vitals and gave her a breathing test. She was fine. No there is no history of breathing problem, no she isn't on meds of any kind. No school drama. So he wanted blood work, a chest X-ray and a follow up with a lung specialist.

Well.....Cookie has this FEAR of needles. So short of another panic attack, we said no thank you to the blood work. She came apart when they did the X-ray and I veto the specialist. There is no indication that there is any problem with her lungs.

So we went home. We talked about eating better, getting more sleep, and working through panic attacks. We worked on some helpful  breathing and calming techniques. Tomorrow I will go get her some calming oils, and we will  keep working on being low stress.

I don't want to relive today.

(then my garage door broke....deep breaths....calm thoughts....ZEN)