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Hi!

Hi CQ,

I am new to this site and happened to read your posts and see that you live in Australia. My surgeries happened years ago in Dallas, Texas and one of the surgeons was Peter Dormund from Australia. He wouldn't happen to be your surgeon too, would he?

Anyway, I hope you're feeling great!

Theresa
 
Hi Theressa,

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry I have never heard of Peter Dormund, do you know where in Australia he is from?

My surgery was done in Melbourne - Victoria & the neurosurgeon who did my surgery was Ass Prof Gavin Fabinyi.
 
Hi all,

Yesterday & Today I had my 3 monthly follow up appointment at the hospital to see how I'm going since the surgery.

Yesterday morning I saw the surgeon then had another MRI & in the afternoon I saw the neuro. Both the surgeon & neuro were pretty happy with how everything is going. The neuro showed me the MRI which I had yesterday morning & explained it all to me, was pretty cool to see where they removed the scarring lol.

Today I had my eye test & had memory test with my neuropsychologist & both appts went well.

Don't need to have any more tests now but have to go back in September to see the neuro & neuropsych just for a checkup & chat.
 
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CQ, that all sounds pretty great! How are you feeling?
 
Hi Nakamova,

I'm going great & was pretty happy with the feedback from the drs :).
I've set myself a goal to go 6 months since the surgery with no seizures or auras. Ofcourse I would love to not have a seizure again but for now I'm setting myself smaller goals & then as time gos on I'll make the goals bigger.

My next step is to go back to job hunting & hopefully get a part time job :).

When I told the surgeon,neuro, epilepsy nurse & neuropsych about my goals they all thought it was a good idea that I am only setting myself small goals at the moment.
 
CQ,

I'm so glad all is going well!

I think your goals are great. Any employer would be lucky to have you. :)
 
Hi all,

Thought I better give an update on how things are going.

Last Wednesday (10 August) was 5 months since my surgery & everything is still going well. I still haven't taken any seizures or auras & am close to my goal of being 6 months seizure free :).

I have noticed that since my surgery I don't get any where near as many headaces as I used to. Before the surgery I was getting headaches every week, sometimes they were real bad headaches. Since the surgery I very rarely get headaches & have only had a couple of bad headaches which required panadol.

I went back to my old routine in July so am doing all my voluntary work again as well as looking for part time work. We have had a bit of rain this winter so I haven't been able to walk as much as I'd like to lol. I am waiting for some nice days so I can go back to doing the bigger walks I used to do.

I go back to see the neurologists & neurospych on 26 September so will give another update after that.
 
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Hi all,

Yesterday i went back to the epilepsy clinic to see the neuropsych & neurologist for my 6 month review.

Everything has been going great with still no seizures or auras & both the neuropsych & neurologist were very happy with how things are going. I am due to go back in December for another review.

I also caught up with 2 other ladies who I chat to on another forum & have had the surgery. One lady had her surgery in July (who I've already met twice before) & the other lady only recently had her surgery. It was great to talk to the other ladies & compare stories as we are all at different stages of recovery since our surgery.
 
AWESOME news CQ !!!
So glad to hear this.

My baby girl (19 now) has been seizure free for 9+ months.

So nice that you have a support group.
Have you had any luck with the job hunt?
 
AWESOME news CQ !!!
So glad to hear this.

My baby girl (19 now) has been seizure free for 9+ months.

So nice that you have a support group.
Have you had any luck with the job hunt?

Hi Robin,

That is great to hear that Rebecca is going well & is 9 months seizure free, wont be long & she will be 12 months :woot:.

I applied for a part time admin assistant position a couple of weeks ago but not sure how I will go. But it is a start & I'll just keep looking for part time admin jobs & see how I go :).

In the mean time I am still doing my voluntary work at the charity shop 3 days a week & at the nursing home 1 morning a week. It is now spring here so the weather is great which means I can walk more so I walk to the charity shop in the mornings which is a good 45 - 50 min walk (only 10 mins by car lol). I have also been going to a gym once a week which I am enjoying :).
 
Keeping busy, staying healthy -- that's great CQ!
 
Hi All,

It is 8 months since my surgery & everything is going great :). I am still counting the months since I had the surgery but after I get past the 12 months mark I might just count the years :roflmao:

I have been keeping myself busy lately, being out most days which I don't mind as I would much rather be busy then bored at home lol.
I'm still looking for work, did apply for a few jobs but so far not much luck, I don't let that worry me to much & just keep trying because I know the right job is out there :D.

It has been really busy at the charity shop I volunteer at & I expect it will remain busy for the rest of the year. I still only do 3 days a week there at the moment but the days I am there go so fast.

One of the elderly female residents at the nursing home I volunteer at passed away at the end of September. I was really close to this particular lady as I had been visiting her (both 1 on 1 & part of the exercise group) for 7 years. As stress has always been one of my main seizure triggers I was a little worried that I might get stressed prior to the funeral & have an aura or partial seizure. But in the end I had nothing to worry about as I didn't take any seizures.

I think that if I could get through the funeral with no worries then I should be able to handle most things :).

I go back to the epilepsy clinic at the hospital on the 12 December to see the neurologist & neuropsych for my 9 monthly check-up.
 
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It's great to hear how well you are doing CQ!
 
CQ, this is wonderful news about your seizures. I'm so happy for you! :)
 
Thanks Nak & Endless,

I hope this won't come across as negative but I don't like to say the surgery has cured my epilepsy or I will never have another seizure again because I don't think anyone knows what the future holds for them.

But I am so glad I did have the surgery & very happy with how my whole recovery went:). Now this is the longest I have been seizure free in 9 years & I am now pleased to think of my seizures as currently being under control :).

Will posts another update after I get back from the epilepsy clinic .
 
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Hi all.

I am now 9 months seizure free & going great :).
I went back to the epilepsy clinic Yesterday for my 9 month review with the neurologist & neuropsych.

Both the neurologist & neuropsych were happy with how everything is going. I go back to the clinic at the end of March for my 12 month review which is when the neurologist will start to gradually take me of 1 of my meds. It will most likely be Keppra that I get weened off but I'll know for sure in March lol.
 
CQ, that is such great news. I look forward to every progress report you make.
 
Thanks Nak.

When I did see the neuro Yesterday I only had one question for him but it wasn't actually epilepsy related lol.

For years I have gotten the shakes, it used to be my leg that would shake but now my hand will shake a little. When I do get these shakes it isn't to bad & it doesn't happen that often at all.

I don't worry about it to much & didn't think it was related to my epilepsy but decided to mention it to the neurologist when I saw him Yesterday to see what he thought it was.

I told him I thought maybe the leg shaking was like a nervous reaction but wasn't sure about the hands shaking. He said the legs shaking was probably from nerves but he thought the hand shaking may be something called essential tremor but he wasn't to concerned about it yet as it very rarely happens & isn't affecting my life.
 
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My brother in law was having restless leg syndrome at night. I suggested magnesium, and he has had great results. It is an easy trial.
 
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