Why Am I Here?

The little girl in this picture is me when I was 3 or 4 years old. Before I was 2 days old, I had a grandmal seizure in the nursery at the hospital I was born at. I was taken in an ambulance to a local children’s hospital. I spent the first 2 weeks of my life there and I was my parents’ first child. Then, when they did bring me home, my maternal grandmother came over for the next 2 weeks and stayed up with me all night so my parents could sleep because someone had to watch me 24/7.

Then, when I was 3 months old, I had a seizure the day before my next doctor’s appointment. My mom had to get a neighbor to take us to the hospital because my dad was at work and they only had one vehicle and in 1974 no car seat. My mom just held me in the front passenger seat.

I had to go to the doctor numerous times as I was growing to make sure there was enough medication in my blood, but sometimes I grew faster than the doctors expected and I would have a seizure before my next appointment. I got so used to getting my blood drawn, I would just sit there and watch the needle go in my arm and watch it go up the little hose to the vial. My mom even told me I helped her get over her fear of needles!

They never figured out what caused my seizures even though they did many tests like an electroencephalogram (EEG), but they did determine that it affected the coordination part of my brain. Also, the medicine I was on slowed down my motor skills a lot. Although I did learn how to roller skate and ride a bicycle, I have never been able to run very fast or throw or catch a ball very well.

I do not remember many of the times that I had seizures, but I do remember one time, I think I was about 8, when I was in the back seat of the car and we were on our way to a cousins’ birthday party. When I woke up, we had turned around and we were going back home. I asked my parents why and my mom told me I had a seizure. I started crying, I really wanted to go to his birthday party.

Also, sleep is especially important for anyone with epilepsy. When I was about 12, I had gone to a slumber party and not gotten much sleep. Shortly after I got home, I fell asleep on the couch in the basement. When I woke up, my tongue was swollen I had a seizure and bit my tongue! I did not fall off the couch though. (By the way, it is an old wives’ tale that you can bite your tongue all the way off, do not put anything in the mouth of anyone having a seizure. Just turn them on their side.) I knew I had had a seizure and I was not happy about it.

After that, I basically had grown out of my seizures and my dad had slowly taken me off my medicine and replacing it with the herb Valerian root and I did not have another seizure for 4 years.

I was able to get a driver’s license when I was 16 because I had not had a seizure in so long, but a few months after I got it, I was in a car accident. Keep in mind it was 1990, I was driving my mom’s car and I turned in front of a car that I should not have. I did not have a seat belt on, the doors did not automatically lock and my head hit the window which popped the door open and I fell out of the car and hit my head on the asphalt. I had a seizure the first time I hit my head. I woke up on a stretcher. Then, two weeks later I had a seizure at school, an aftermath after hitting my head, although the doctors put me back on medication for about a year.

Then, I was off medication and seizure free till I was 22! But I got a job at a collection agency and I was on an automatic dialing system, it was flashing like a strobe light. After I had 3 seizures at work, I figured out what was causing them and quit the job. I have been back on medication ever since and had more seizures than I can count. It took awhile to get them under control even as an adult, but I have been seizure free for 6+ years now.

This is just the beginning of my story. Like the title says, “Why am I Here?”