Sunday, August 13
At the end of the weekend.
I only made it to one of the hospitals today, MINCEP at Abbot Northwestern. My 2nd oldest brother has been there for about a week. Hopefully he will have his seizures better managed -- maybe completely gone but can't get our hopes up too high. My parents and one of my other brothers went to visit him, we watched movies and hung out. It's a pretty swanky hospital, if he wasn't all wired up and had to stay in the department and maybe if he could go outside once or twice a day for a smoke, it wouldn't be so bad.
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ReplyDeletehe's had seizures since he had meningitis when he was 8 months old. Medication works for him, but he still has seizures often enough for it to be a safety and quality of life issue. He's relatively lucky compared to some people who are totally disabled by uncontrollable seizures. He might qualify for the surgery, which is cool because it could potentially completely stop the seizures, but you know, brain surgery, pretty risky. They found out that the seizures seem to be coming from a little area in (if I remember correctly) the temporal lobe, so that's good, I guess. If they weren't so localized surgery wouldn't be an option, I guess. Epilepsy sucks ass. It's a very mean thing to have. It can be caused by so many random things, or you may never know what caused it.
When I think of a seizure, I think of the same thing you probably do: someone falling to the floor and thrashing. There are other kinds too, like the one he has where he just stares into space for a few minutes, doesn't respond if you try to talk to him (he did this at my apartment when he & dad stopped by on their way to the hospital, he thought it was an aura or warning, which he gets before seizures, but they are the same as any other seizure supposedly), or the ones where he does strange stuff (i don't think I've seen that one, but he's told me about what people have told me he did, and it's possible i did see one when i was a kid and just thought he was being an asshole). He can't remember any of them. He's always tired and spaced out afterwards. .... Just got off the phone with my mom. They thought they'd be able to go home by now, but they want to keep him a little longer to make sure they get enough information. Today while she & my dad were there he had one or two of the quiet, spaced out seizures. My parents didn't know til the lights went off and a couple of nurses came into the room. Hopefully he can leave by Friday. I can't remember what those are called, there's the old names, petit mal and grand mal. Then there's the new terms: tonic clonic (grand mal) and complex partial (the "I don't remember doing that" ones).
My bro is getting grouchier. Fuck, I would too. NOt only has he been stuck in a hospital (did I mention the part where they stuck needles in his brain or some shit? WTF. And being all wired up and he can't go anywhere and then ), he's also had mostly just my dad for company for a week and a half, other than hospital staff and occasional visits from other family.
I feel for ya Dirty. WTF is right. I hope they can find some way to stop this thing for your brother. I'm not big on religion, but I'll be praying.
ReplyDeleteHave a great day!
thanks sweetie!
ReplyDelete