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hiddenmuseIt's interesting how life (or at the least, my body) tends to put me in my place, whether I need it or not.
Today is no exception. I was all ready to go to work this morning - had my clothes out and everything. Instead, my brain decided to go haywire on me and I had my first seizure in about 8 months. Thankfully, Kellie was around when it happened, and took care of me in between conference calls and putting out work-related fires.
Typically, I have no idea what happens when I have a seizure. I just know that I have that weird "deja-vu/funky aura/hallucination" feeling - and I'm rendered incapacitated until after I've taken a nap, and had time to recover. Kellie wrote something in her blog about what happened, and what it was like from her point of view - so I'm borrowing that and posting it here.
This morning while getting ready for work, she had a seizure. It was one of the more violent ones, so I'm thankful she was sitting on the potty when it happened. There are a lot of things she could have hurt herself on while falling to the ground in there. Unfortunately, because of the way our toilet is situated in relation to the door, you can't open the bathroom door while someone is on the toilet because their legs are blocking the door. They have to scoot their legs to the left to allow space for the door.
The bathroom door was cracked open because we had just been talking about what to have for dinner. I was in the kitchen making coffee. I heard what sounded like a scared gasp... you know, when you suddenly remembered you left the stove on and fear your house is on fire? Only it didn't stop. I asked if she was ok as I walked toward the bathroom, and through the crack I saw her face. When you see the face, you just know. It's a twisted, frozen facial expression.
I stuck my hand through the door to put on her shoulder, but that's all of me I could get in. I just tried to keep her from banging her head on the wall. The weight of her legs was pushing the door closed and my wrist was in the middle. I reached over with my other hand and turned my watch up, so the door wouldn't rub on my bones while I kept track of how long she was in seizure.
It's amazing how long a minute really is.
After a seizure, she is very out of it. The seizures effect the part of her brain that does speech, so she can't talk to you. But it effects every part of the brain at least a little -- her movements are uncoordinated, she doesn't understand you well. All the time her brain is shutting down on her and forcing her to get to sleep.
So I knew I only had a few minutes to get her in bed before she crashed out for good. I did not want her sleeping on the toilet. (See above for things you can hit your head on, not to mention the severe neck ache and toilet seat butt). But I could not force the door open. I would get her to look at me, tell her she can't sleep yet, and I need her to move her legs over so I can open the door. She would nod, and go back to sleep.
Rinse, repeat for 15 minutes.
Finally I got her out of the bathroom and basically propped her up and scooted her to bed. I think she was actually asleep before she got in bed.
I called her boss to let her know that Carly would be in late, if at all. It's days like today that I am grateful to work from home, so she doesn't have to be alone.
I know she'll be most upset about it happening at all -- she's been seizure free since last May. I'm just glad she's ok, and that I was here to do what little I could through a 2 inch gap in the door.
But today is going to be a rough one for her -- there is a lot of emotional aftermath to one of these things. Please keep her in your thoughts for the day.
(And me too -- I did all of this BEFORE coffee! LOL)
The aftermath is this: I slept until about 8:30 a.m. (the seizure happened around 7:45 a.m.), and when I woke up, I thought I'd overslept and barely recalled Kellie calling Susan (my boss) to let her know that I wouldn't be in because of the seizure, and I was going to need my rest. So, I went back to sleep until about 10:30 or 11 - stayed awake for an hour or so, then went back to sleep until almost 4 p.m.
I'd bitten the tip of my tongue - hard enough that it's bruised - during the seizure, and I have a bruise on my right shoulder from either the magazine rack or the doorknob. My head still hurts, and I'm hoping for an uneventful evening - maybe even a somewhat uneventful weekend. (Not that I don't want to go out and do the usual running - "uneventful" here means no more seizures to ruin the day!)
It's strange that I'd have a seizure - but, I did have a trigger: my period. No unusual stress levels, no sleep deprivation - just my period.
Damn body.
Today is no exception. I was all ready to go to work this morning - had my clothes out and everything. Instead, my brain decided to go haywire on me and I had my first seizure in about 8 months. Thankfully, Kellie was around when it happened, and took care of me in between conference calls and putting out work-related fires.
Typically, I have no idea what happens when I have a seizure. I just know that I have that weird "deja-vu/funky aura/hallucination" feeling - and I'm rendered incapacitated until after I've taken a nap, and had time to recover. Kellie wrote something in her blog about what happened, and what it was like from her point of view - so I'm borrowing that and posting it here.
This morning while getting ready for work, she had a seizure. It was one of the more violent ones, so I'm thankful she was sitting on the potty when it happened. There are a lot of things she could have hurt herself on while falling to the ground in there. Unfortunately, because of the way our toilet is situated in relation to the door, you can't open the bathroom door while someone is on the toilet because their legs are blocking the door. They have to scoot their legs to the left to allow space for the door.
The bathroom door was cracked open because we had just been talking about what to have for dinner. I was in the kitchen making coffee. I heard what sounded like a scared gasp... you know, when you suddenly remembered you left the stove on and fear your house is on fire? Only it didn't stop. I asked if she was ok as I walked toward the bathroom, and through the crack I saw her face. When you see the face, you just know. It's a twisted, frozen facial expression.
I stuck my hand through the door to put on her shoulder, but that's all of me I could get in. I just tried to keep her from banging her head on the wall. The weight of her legs was pushing the door closed and my wrist was in the middle. I reached over with my other hand and turned my watch up, so the door wouldn't rub on my bones while I kept track of how long she was in seizure.
It's amazing how long a minute really is.
After a seizure, she is very out of it. The seizures effect the part of her brain that does speech, so she can't talk to you. But it effects every part of the brain at least a little -- her movements are uncoordinated, she doesn't understand you well. All the time her brain is shutting down on her and forcing her to get to sleep.
So I knew I only had a few minutes to get her in bed before she crashed out for good. I did not want her sleeping on the toilet. (See above for things you can hit your head on, not to mention the severe neck ache and toilet seat butt). But I could not force the door open. I would get her to look at me, tell her she can't sleep yet, and I need her to move her legs over so I can open the door. She would nod, and go back to sleep.
Rinse, repeat for 15 minutes.
Finally I got her out of the bathroom and basically propped her up and scooted her to bed. I think she was actually asleep before she got in bed.
I called her boss to let her know that Carly would be in late, if at all. It's days like today that I am grateful to work from home, so she doesn't have to be alone.
I know she'll be most upset about it happening at all -- she's been seizure free since last May. I'm just glad she's ok, and that I was here to do what little I could through a 2 inch gap in the door.
But today is going to be a rough one for her -- there is a lot of emotional aftermath to one of these things. Please keep her in your thoughts for the day.
(And me too -- I did all of this BEFORE coffee! LOL)
The aftermath is this: I slept until about 8:30 a.m. (the seizure happened around 7:45 a.m.), and when I woke up, I thought I'd overslept and barely recalled Kellie calling Susan (my boss) to let her know that I wouldn't be in because of the seizure, and I was going to need my rest. So, I went back to sleep until about 10:30 or 11 - stayed awake for an hour or so, then went back to sleep until almost 4 p.m.
I'd bitten the tip of my tongue - hard enough that it's bruised - during the seizure, and I have a bruise on my right shoulder from either the magazine rack or the doorknob. My head still hurts, and I'm hoping for an uneventful evening - maybe even a somewhat uneventful weekend. (Not that I don't want to go out and do the usual running - "uneventful" here means no more seizures to ruin the day!)
It's strange that I'd have a seizure - but, I did have a trigger: my period. No unusual stress levels, no sleep deprivation - just my period.
Damn body.
