LOG 18: Seizures

AND we had hit yet another crazy loop on our roller-coaster ride. The first seizure had already given us a demo of what a seizure actually looks and feels like. So, when the second one graced us with its presence, we were better prepared to recognize it. And yet again, the second one, just like the first one, did set my recovery back. I was kept in the emergency ward for a few hours under observation and as soon as my vitals were normal, and I was stabilized, I was shifted back to the “normal” neuro ward. It cost us nearly a week to get back to regular physio again. This caused another big blow to my recovery process. Not to mention the fact that it increased spasticity (Spasticity? Check out Google) and made movements of the left side of my body increasingly difficult. It was from here that the epic saga started. I started getting seizures almost on a weekly basis (if not quicker). There was a time when I was getting 3-5 seizures in a month, regardless of whether I was asleep or awake. Yes, imagine getting all “seized” up in your sleep. 24-hour monitoring, no breaks allowed for my family! True, this might be nothing compared to what an epileptic person might have to undergo, but it was just as serious considering that my brain was just beginning to recover from the trauma it had undergone just a few months ago. It used to follow this pattern. Every time we seemed to be making some progress with my “recovery”, especially to the extent that the doctors would be so positive that I could go back home in a few weeks, a seizure would strike and put us back to square one all over again. For about a month (or was it two?) we were stuck in some sort of cynical math problem where I would climb up 5 rungs on the recovery ladder and then immediately fall back 6 rungs down. Tell me which rung would I be on in a month if I was getting a seizure every week? This happened so many times in the span of about 1.5 months (and it was getting increasingly frustrating), that it seemed as though my body and brain were having their own conversation that went like this: Body: OK! So, watch me recovering, I’m fabulous. Brain:  Oh No! You’re not, not so soon. You are causing me too much stress. Activate special move – “Seizure”. And then instantly, within a few minutes, weeks of recovery progress would bite the dust and we would be back to stone age. Oh, and how can I forget? It was in one of my physio therapy sessions about 2 weeks after my first Code Blue that I got my second one. This second Code Blue was weird, but had its own silver lining to it. It was during my occupational therapy session that it hit. Quite literally, my hand was undergoing some stretching by my occupational therapist when all of a sudden, it started to twitch (just like in my first Code Blue). Almost immediately a Code Blue was announced, and the emergency team arrived at the scene. How was this second Code Blue better than the first? Well, up until now, every seizure I had, I would have a memory blackout but in this one, I was completely awake throughout. This gave me my first experience of how a seizure feels like during its occurrence with open eyes and me in my senses. It truly gave me an idea of how being “possessed”  might feel!HaHa Even in the midst of the seizures, I think what truly kept me going was my sister. I would wait for her to come on her fortnight long monthly visits, and every visit of hers would invigorate me with newfound energy as she always knew what to do/say to keep me going… let’s not forget that it was she who got me to utter my first word – “brownie” (See Log 8). I think I could have called that November of 2016 as “the month of seizures”. I look back now and realize that November, and my sister, were just teaching me to never give up and getting me ready for a harder and better December. Because December… was the real deal folks… lots of things coming in the upcoming logs… hold on to your butts… this roller-coaster ride is gonna get even crazier…

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