I haven’t had any crisis in a while but from what I remember:

Very tired.  Lifting arms/legs is a real chore (one you don’t feel like doing anyway).  Things don’t really register.  You see ok but everything seems surreal (like a dream).  You can hear but you don’t really comprehend.  I mean, you understand what is being said but only as it is being said.  Sort of like reading the prospectus of a mutual fund:  you understand the vocabulary but altogether it seems like mumbo-jumbo. 

I had day surgery two years ago and had a bad reaction to the anesthesia.  A lot of vomiting brought on a crisis.  I was so out of it that I didn’t think to ask for a shot of hydrocortisone or to ask them to page the endo on call.  They just followed the sheet from the endo (which didn’t mention extra doses for vomiting from anesthesia).  All I could think of was that I COULD NOT go home even though they wanted to release me.  Gotta love those HMO’s.

I sort of rambled a bit.  I hope this helps.  Your 4 year old was on the money.