I'm fixing to keep this seizure my last

This late afternoon/evening I went to Dr. Ball's house, a former colleague of Dad's who is now a professor at LeTourneau University, and I cooked Nemati Spaghetti for him and his family. That was a very fun time, and after dinner I played Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii with his sons.

Alas, I played too long, and (I'm guessing) part of my brain fell asleep while another part was over-exerted, and a seizure started. This happened about 3 hours ago as of the moment I am publishing this - 9:40 PM CDT.

Like the last two, I was conscious the whole time. However, this one was a bit gentler than the others, as it lasted less time and I got my speech back a lot faster. When I talked with Mom and Dad on the Webcam, Dad said that I didn't look like I'd had a seizure, and I did not feel like I had had a seizure.

I may be having a little too little sleep, so I'd better click Publish Post, and get to bed.

Thank y'all for your prayers, please continue, and God bless you.

In Christ's Love,

David Nemati

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.

Delivered to Texas

Yesterday I left David in Longview, Texas. He is (sort of) settled into a dorm room on campus. We spent five days together going to all the orientation info sessions and visiting the school nurse, security, getting a local doctor, signing him up for classes--not too many and not too few, hopefully. Three trips to Walmart, one trip to Target, Office Depot, and Supercuts. The bank called this morning and said to stop.

Last month he had a second, minor seizure. He didn't lose consciousness which hasn't happened since when the epilepsy first appeared. But it was pretty depressing. We sorted things out and decided to try extra sleeping medicine in hopes that it would counteract any sleep disturbances from the VNS dose increases. We doubled his dose of Rozerem and he seems fine now.

David seems to be back to being stable. Moving away from home, with all the orientation running around craziness in 100 degree heat with stifling humidity, it seems like he would be at risk for at least one seizure, but he has been fine. He did have a day with several auras but that's it.

I kept asking if he didn't want to come back with me to keep me company on the way home, but he very sweetly said that though he would miss us, he was happy staying. He is very excited about his opportunity!!

Thank you for the prayers and support that have gotten him this far!

Still ok

David hasn't had any more trouble since Tuesday night.
He had a lot of freedom taking the bus to PCC for a math class--gone. Now I drive him till we understand how likely it is he will have seizures.
We also are going to work to get him more resilient, which may take a while.
I am soooo glad this happened now and not two months from now when he would have been living in a dorm 2000 miles away! God's mercy.

My Jaw Won't Shut (Figuratively)

On Sunday, I overexerted myself, and had the ~50th aura since the surgery.

On Monday and Tuesday, I forgot my morning doses of medecine, as I had many times before.

Tuesday morning I also had an aura that lasted 30 - 60 seconds while I was in class at Pasadena City College. (Taking Calculus 2, if you're curious).

Then, Tuesday evening, as Dad was helping me with choosing what classes to take at LeTourneau University, I had a long bad aura, and as I found out two days later, it was followed by a big, bad seizure, which I do not remember.

It is hard to grasp the fact that after 11 months and one week with no seizures, I had another; this could mean working out my plans for college all over again.

However, the verse from Job has come to my mind, and I resolve to mean it:

"The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

All quiet today

David was tired but no seizures today. He stayed home from class and just felt crummy, napped, and did homework.

Bad news--the one I dread

David had a bad seizure tonight. He is fine now. But we are so disappointed. He had missed the last two morning doses of medicine and I guess his brain couldn't take that. Pray for healing from this monster. Thanks.