I have epilepsy.
Don't freak out. I am not possessed by any evil spirits.
Erin, shut up. You too, Jennie.
Anyway, occasionally I have what we named "break throughs" when I was pretty little. It's just when the seizures and the meds don't work together and I have seizures for several hours, always at night. That's usually a good thing, because I don't miss work. The negative is that I don't sleep. And I have to take extra meds. So I am a little groggy in the morning. This happened last night.
So here's the problem (the seizures aren't the problem?!)
My family and friends are nuts.
They can't decide whether to make light of a pretty tough situation for everyone to handle, or to be serious and try and help. Since none of them are certified neurologists, mostly they worry a lot, which can be fairly amusing (when viewed in hind sight)
Here are some things my family and friends have chosen to do in the past, as well as last night:
My little sister, Erin, used to make me laugh right before I started having a seizure. I can't control what my face does during a seizure. The result was pretty gruesome.
Love ya Erin!
My room mate Jennie stayed up all night with me. It was a very sweet thought, but she slept in our arm chair. Now I have a cranky room mate. Next time, you take the couch.
My older sister Kathi stayed up, in case I needed her. She wasn't at the house with me, but she stayed up. Just several cell phone calls away (she doesn't wake up on the first call)
My mom stayed up all night too. She called me every half hour. Remember, I'm having seizures . . . answering a phone can be difficult. Then after they stopped, we talked for awhile about something else she was concerned about. I don't really remember. I just had seizures for several hours. I dozed through most of her conversation.
The people around me are crazy. Seriously.
But you know, Erin has also spent hours rubbing my back trying to relax those muscles. Jennie did that last night too. My dad used to do that before he died.
Dad and I used to talk about all sorts of things while I had seizures. He was trying to keep my mind off of what was happening, but I learned more about him and the church during those nights than in any Sunday School class. I miss that.
My family and friends are awesome. Wacko, but awesome.
And this morning, they're all late for work. And cranky.
I wonder what mom wanted last night.
Thanks you guys
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6 comments:
Okay: I'd like to file a formal complaint.
Erin and I have discussed this before, and I didn't win the argument with her and I'm sure I won't win it with you, either, but I just want to make you aware of it.
"Breakthrough" is a positive term. When you say "I had a breakthrough", that would mean that you've overcome some obstacle, or suddenly achieved some goal. It doesn't mean "My medical condition got the best of me and I was up all night, contorting."
Now, I'll grant you that the term "breakthrough" can have a negative connotation when it is applied to the enemy: "the Nazis army had a breakthrough on the Maginot line" or "Dr. Strange made a breakthrough discovery in the lab--and now he would exact his violent revenge!" But in both of those cases, the term "breakthrough" is being applied to the problem not to the victim. So, I suppose, if you were to say "The abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal activity in brain had a breakthrough last night, and man did it suck", or "The prankster with the strobe light had a breakthrough last night", then I can see how it would apply.
But, for crying out loud, you, the victim, shouldn't refer to getting seizures as having a "breakthrough". (Unless you're Pollyanna, and there's some weird silver lining to the epilepsy cloud.)
Of course, Erin has explained that "breakthrough" is just a word that you and your family came up--it's not a medical term, and it doesn't need to follow the dictionary definition. This, I would posit, is why we're counseled not to carry on the wicked traditions of our fathers. In fact, I'm quite sure this very argument is what Moroni was talking about. (He did see a vision of our day, after all.)
(I like to picture Moroni, sitting all alone somewhere, with no family or friends, on the run from the Lamanites, and he's sitting under a tree in the rain, thinking "Breakthrough is positive, dang it! Oh, ye fair ones!")
Come on Rob!
Because "the abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain had a breakthrough tonight," was a little difficult to say when I was five. We shortened.
What are you, a writer? Sheesh.
I am a speaker of English. That should be enough.
(I'm also a nitpicker of minutiae.)
Thanks Rob. I now have a new nickname for you. Nitpicker Wells.
Christina, me being crazy shouldn't be anything new to you. I never claimed I wasn't, I just didn't tell you and Jessica exactly how crazy I am. You are just jealous that I can fall a sleep in the middle of a conversation or at the drop of a hat!
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