As the mother of two children that have now had four febrile seizures, I have quite the collection of temperature taking materials. Just one weekend ago, we put a lot of these items to the test. My youngest son, just 22 months old, had two febrile seizures in a 30 hour span of time.

Thanks to the Family Review Network and Exergen, my family recently had the opportunity to try a Temporal Scanner. We were very excited to try this because it was noninvasive, quick to use, and could be done while a child slept. The timing of its arrival would prove to be a blessing in disguise.

The first time I saw a temporal scanner was in February 2008 when my youngest was hospitalized for four nights. At that time he had a febrile seizure, stopped breathing and needed rescue breaths to get him going again. The first night in the pediatric ward of the hospital, one of the nurses stopped by to do vitals. He was hooked up to numerous tubes and machines. I was afraid they would need to wake him for a rectal temperature. Thankfully, they had the temporal scanner and could do it without bothering him. With a quick scan across his forehead and behind his ears, we were done. We instantly knew if we were in the fever "danger zone"  of sorts.

My Review:

When the Temporal Scanner arrived, I immediately took it out of the package, read the instructions and was ready to test it out. We always test new thermometers with the boys to obtain what their "normal" reading is with each. This is very important with my youngest because JSL’s normal temperature is quite low. Worse yet, he does not exhibit signs of fevers most of the time. He will be playing one minute and wham – febrile seizure takes place. Very scary as a parent.

The boys were fascinated with my new little device (hubby included). I went around and took each of their temperatures. All I had to do was take the cap off, place it on their forehead in the proper location, press the button and move it over so slightly. It was quick, easy and the temperature reading was consistent with other thermometers that we have.

Last Saturday, after my son’s initial febrile seizure I had a difficult time with the temporal scanner. My son was barely able to sit up, hardly conscious, his temperature was spiking, and he was sweaty. All things that will alter the readings on a temporal scanner. At that moment in time, we waited for the ER where they did an official reading and started to treat my son.

It is my belief that given the circumstances at the time, nothing would have been a great means to obtain a temperature. When the body is recovering from a febrile seizure and extreme spike in temperature, all bets are off. I know that in our house we will still be using the Exergen Temporal Scanner as one of our strategic defenses against fever detection.

 Important Facts about the Exergen Temporal Scanner:

• Exergen Temporal Scanner is the first infrared thermometer made to measure the body temperature via a reading from the temporal artery.
• Least invasive method of temperature taking, using a simple sweep over a patient’s forehead.
• Given typical circumstances, arterial temperature is close to rectal temperature.
• Takes over 1,000 readings per second and selects the most accurate to display.
• You can obtain a reading within two seconds.
• A red LED light and beep allow you to know if the scan is done properly
• Powered by a 9-volt battery.
• Additional Facts, including an Introductory and Educational video, may be found here. 

You can purchase your own Exergen Temporal Scanner from Amazon, WalMart, Babies R Us and many other retailers nationwide. The price at most retailers is between $30-35.

A Chance for you to win!

Thanks to Exergen, 1 lucky winner (US Residents only) will have a chance to win their own Temporal Scanner.

Rules for Giveaway:

• MAIN RULE – Visit the Exergen website and then come back and leave a comment telling me something you learned about the temporal scanner and who would you use this for.
• 1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
• 1-2 Bonus Entries – Stumble this post and/or my main blog page and leave your Stumble name in a separate comment.
• 1 Bonus Entry – Follow me on Twitter @TheAngelForever and tweet about the giveaway. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and Exergen Temporal Scanner in the Tweet. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment. 
• 1 Bonus Entry – Add TheAngelForever to your blog roll and leave a separate comment.
• 3 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the Exergen Temporal Scanner giveaway. Be sure to leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra credit.

To enter, just follow the rules above within the comment section. Be sure that I have an e-mail address that I can contact you for a mailing address once the giveaway is over. All entries must be received by 10:59pm EST on  April 11, 2009. I will pick the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If no response, another winner will be selected.