Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Another Seizure

Last night, at about 8:05 PM Central Daylight Time, I was getting near the end of an online conference with some classmates in Intro to Psychology. Then an aura started, and I swiped the magnet over my VNS. It got worse, so I swiped it again to reset the one minute of zap. I lost motor control, and I have reason to think I also lost my sense of touch, but my sense of vision was awake and recording to memory the whole time.

After the seizure was over and I regained motor control, I tried twice to write something like "Sorry, guys, I was having a seizure for the last few minutes, could you summarize for me what you discussed in the last few minutes?", but I wasn't able to get past the first five words either time, because I was having trouble connecting thoughts to words.

I called home on the Webcam a few minutes later, and managed to get the right words out to Mom and Dad, communicating what had happened. About an hour after the seizure started I called again, and had recovered my fluency.

The most likely cause for the seizure is that I only had about seven hours of sleep the night before. Last night I slept from about 10 to 8:30, so I am not afraid today (but I'm still being cautious!), and tonight I'll go to bed at about 9.

One positive thing I can think of about this is that I might be able to make a good presentation about it in Intro to Psychology, where we have just been studying what parts of the brain have what functions. I would find fun attaching each function I had trouble with to the part of my brain that was having trouble.

1 comment:

Phyllis Borjon said...

Hi David,
We've been caught up with getting Gabriel ready for UCI that we hadn't been checking your blog. Wow! A lot has happened,the best news is the "determination to carry on" I read between the lines in your description of having a seizure thousands of miles from home. I'm so glad I looked up post because as a mom I worry about Gabe having seizures without us there to help him out. But, your story eases my fears and helps me understand that independence is so important to you (And Gabe). I will continue to pray for you and your success.
Take care,
Phyllis Borjon
Pasadena Support Group