Pastor Mark
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Hey everybody, I've been married to my high-school sweetheart for almost 31 years. We were 15/16 when we started dating and we're 49/50 now, so I know more about her than anyone. Though we've been through a lot in our life together, last summer we were in Western Africa working in a small orphanage in the mountains. (on sabbatical/mission). She became ill and was diagnosed by a doctor in the local "hospital" as having malaria. After receiving some medication to take and being told that her symptoms would last a week or so, she stayed in our little room to rest while I spent time across the road at the orphanage. One evening I returned to find her still sleeping from earlier in the day. When I woke her she was very disoriented. (what I not know as either an aura or absence). I knew something was wrong and threw some stuff in a bag to take her to the big hospital about 1 1/2 hours away. When she stood up she had a tonic-clonic seizure. Now, I've been around crisis all of my life and usually I slow down and can handle it, but I thought at first she was having a stroke. After the seizure she fell unconscious and limp. I picked her up and started carrying her down the road till I was able to get a ride to the hospital. Although she came around in the car, she didn't know who I was or, that we had children, in fact, she was still disoriented and pretty much acted as though someone had hit her up-side the head with a board. (now I realize that she was). After arriving at the bigger hospital (1930's by our standards) she was still twitching and soon had another one. It was determined by a blood test that she had sepsis (an infection in the blood) which could cause a seizure.) She had also been experiencing increasingly frequent bouts of hypo-glycemia. We left the country and went to Germany to stay with our daughter who is an officer in the U.S. military for the rest of the summer. There we immediately saw a doctor who treated her sepsis and after several visits and tests told us that he felt she had a 'seizure disorder'. In other words, because of the intrinsic and extrinsic stresses of the infection and the trip, her body reacted with a seizure. She rested for a few days, recovered well (with a five day lapse in memory) and we spent the rest of the summer just relaxing, reading and taking a break from our normal busy lives.
After returning to the U.S., we moved to a new state because of my work. We were here two weeks when on a Saturday a.m. she again became disoriented. I immediately took her to the hospital (a modern hospital!) where she had a T-C seizure in the presence of a doctor and three nurses. It was then that she was diagnosed with Epilepsy. However, after being prescribed Keppra, she felt terrible and still suffered from low blood sugar. Although we weren't sure if she was feeling sick because of the Keppra, the hypoglycemia or, a combination of the two. We were scheduled to see the ego-centric Neurologist THREE MONTHS after the hospital incident and now matter how persistent we were, he would not move the appointment saying, "just be patient".
We finally were able to get into the Mayo Clinic where we spent a week seeing three different doctors and running a number of tests for both the Epilepsy and the hypo-glycemia. The Keppra was reduced slightly, her diet has changed and she has been feeling great. We're so grateful.
The thing is I'm still walking around like a bomb is going to go off any minute. Although I've gotten a little better, I'm still apprehensive about leaving her along too long (she back at work again). I still get freaked out a bit when I think of Africa and carrying her down a dark road thinking she had died, but I've been dealing with this by letting go through prayer. Today, she flew to another part of the country to see our daughter who's back in the U.S. for a course. It's the longest and the farthest she's been away from me since all of this happened, and then at the airport, I picked up the Newsweek article and although it was very informative, IT freaked me out a bit. Frankly, I think I'm struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from the Africa event. I've got to see a Psychiatrist I think to work through this. It's just that I love her so much and we have a great relationship in every way, as well as a full and fruitful life. I guess it's not only her brain that gets out of control. Anyone?....
After returning to the U.S., we moved to a new state because of my work. We were here two weeks when on a Saturday a.m. she again became disoriented. I immediately took her to the hospital (a modern hospital!) where she had a T-C seizure in the presence of a doctor and three nurses. It was then that she was diagnosed with Epilepsy. However, after being prescribed Keppra, she felt terrible and still suffered from low blood sugar. Although we weren't sure if she was feeling sick because of the Keppra, the hypoglycemia or, a combination of the two. We were scheduled to see the ego-centric Neurologist THREE MONTHS after the hospital incident and now matter how persistent we were, he would not move the appointment saying, "just be patient".
We finally were able to get into the Mayo Clinic where we spent a week seeing three different doctors and running a number of tests for both the Epilepsy and the hypo-glycemia. The Keppra was reduced slightly, her diet has changed and she has been feeling great. We're so grateful.
The thing is I'm still walking around like a bomb is going to go off any minute. Although I've gotten a little better, I'm still apprehensive about leaving her along too long (she back at work again). I still get freaked out a bit when I think of Africa and carrying her down a dark road thinking she had died, but I've been dealing with this by letting go through prayer. Today, she flew to another part of the country to see our daughter who's back in the U.S. for a course. It's the longest and the farthest she's been away from me since all of this happened, and then at the airport, I picked up the Newsweek article and although it was very informative, IT freaked me out a bit. Frankly, I think I'm struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from the Africa event. I've got to see a Psychiatrist I think to work through this. It's just that I love her so much and we have a great relationship in every way, as well as a full and fruitful life. I guess it's not only her brain that gets out of control. Anyone?....
I'm glad to hear that your wife's diet is being worked on. I'm epileptic, as well as hypoglycemic as well. And when my sugar dips too low, I too can have seizures. Like your wife, I have tonic clonics. I know that they're scary to watch. But try to take comfort in the fact that during the seizure, she's not really feeling anything. Oh, she may be bruised up afterwards..but during it, she's not feeling a thing. As for the fogginess and not knowing that she had kids after the seizure, that's actually par for the course. If you notice her memory slipping, you might want to have her take fish oil. It tends to help. The thing to do to help you..and her..is to learn as much as you can. Also, try to think of epilepsy as being like asthma or diabetes. Treatable. As apprehensive as you are, can you just imagine how your wife must be feeling. For me, I tend to feel guilty when I have a seizure. Especially because I notice how worried my hubby gets. Your wife is still the same warm and caring person you fell in love with and married. She just has a medical condition. Hopefully, the meds will work for her. If they do, that's fantastic. But even if they do, just remember that seizures can change over time. We can go years without a seizure and then all of a sudden, have them start up again. Also, having to change meds is not that unusual either. So be prepared for it.
