Federica Pellegrini lived a night of terror next to her daughter Matilde, struck by feverish convulsions. In her story, shared on social media accompanied by a shot of her with her daughter lying in a hospital bed, the champion lays bare the emotional fragility of those moments, writing:
Dear diary… when these things happen you understand that the rest is all superfluous…
Unfortunately, it is not the first time he has found himself in this situation with his daughter and this has made everything more distressing:
It’s the third time it’s happened and every time it means losing years and years of life in fear!
The interminable minutes of the crisis
The episode occurred while the little girl was sleeping, a detail that prevented the parents from immediately intervening with antipyretics.
She was sleeping, so we didn’t put the Tachipirina on immediately and after a minute she went into lockdown… Eyes up, head back and breathing that slowly stopped…. We woke her up after a very short time (but it seemed like a lifetime) with a wet towel, trying to lower the temperature.
The journey to the hospital with my grandmother
The journey to the hospital was tense. Next to Federica was grandmother Cinzia, a fundamental presence in Matilde’s life, who tried to comfort her granddaughter by singing her favorite melodies, while fear continued to tighten everyone’s chest.
In the meantime, Matteo Giunta, the little girl’s father, interrupted his commitments in Poland to immediately join the family. Federica tells it like this:
We are here for her… waiting to go home.
Despite the relief at the little girl’s improvement, Federica remains determined to understand the causes of these episodes by carrying out all the necessary investigations. The champion lets her accumulated tiredness and the desire for all this to end soon shine through, commenting:
Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again, my heart.
View this post on Instagram
What are febrile convulsions and their causes
Matilde was struck, as anticipated by her mother, by febrile convulsions. These are sudden episodes that can occur in children, typically between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, when the body temperature rises quickly and abruptly. Although they are very scary to observe, they are in most cases benign and do not leave neurological consequences.
They often manifest as stiffening of the body, loss of consciousness, involuntary movements of the limbs, upturned eyes and irregular breathing. The main cause is not so much the absolute value of the fever, but rather the rapid rise in temperature, which can trigger an abnormal electrical response in the immature brain of children.
Familial predisposition, frequent viral infections in childhood and immune system fatigue may contribute. Although the episode usually lasts a few minutes, for parents it can seem eternal: for this reason it is important to stay calm, place the child on one side, do not put anything in the mouth and wait for the crisis to resolve, before going to the emergency room for the necessary tests as done by Pellegrini.
You might also be interested in:
