Hello from a brother

[Kona]

Hi all- my name is Brian.

I'm here for my (older) brother Daniel. We live together (and we've been roomies for approx the last 7ish years). He was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy just a few years ago at the ripe old age of 39/40. It came on sudden and was finally discovered after he totaled his second car in a 6 month time frame and was not able to remember the details of how either happened, though he was "at fault" for both.

In our family, I'm the "internet savvy" one- although interested, he's fairly intimidated by most things "computer" (though if he knew I was telling you folks, he'd deny it lol).

We hang out from time to time while I'm surfing the interwebs so I'm kinda hoping once he sees me on here and sees me interacting with the forum that he'll want to join in.

I think/hope that a place like this will help him/us cope with his lifetime of seizures.

Thank you in advance for your warm welcomes.

Brian

 

[Nakamova]

Hi Brian, welcome to CWE!

What a swell sibling! It's nice to see a supportive family relationship. Not everyone reacts well to a diagnosis of epilepsy.

I hope you and your brother both feel free to explore the archives and different forums here, and post any questions or comments.

Best,
Nakamova

 

[epileric]

Welcome Brian

Check the place out. There's a lot of people here who are relatives of those with seizures.

You might want to show this to your brother and see if he finds any of them interesting.

http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/index.php?p=alternative-treatments

 

[Westy]

Hi Brian,
You are an inspiration with the support you show your brother. i hope he does decide to join the forum, although i have only just joined they seem a great group of people, doing their best to navigate this medical maze.

Cheers Westy

 

[Endless]

Hi, Brian,

Welcome!

What a great brother you are. There are quite a few family members in here so you'll have lots of good company. Your brother is one lucky guy!

 

[Meetz1064]

Hi, hello and

how do you do, Brian? It's very nice to meet you!

There's plenty of people to meet, and things to find out here, so feel free to plop yourself down, kick your feet up, and just hang out! The dinner party is flowing well, and people are chatting.

I think Buckeye has the decent coffee today. I have some great tea, but I keep burning coffee for some reason.

There's a great Padded Room here for the days that you need to vent, and tons of information to be found in the Kitchen and the Library.

Have a great time, and we'll be sure to enjoy your company!!

Meetz
:rock:

 

[huskymom]

Hi Brian and welcome :hello: You have found the best place to be. Everyone is so kind and willing to help. I hope you and your brother are able to find the answers that you need, ask the questions that you want answered and are able to vent to us when you need to.

 

[Kona]

Thanks everyone!

I'm trying new things as we aren't getting anywhere with the SSA (according to them he isn't disabled- oh really?). The government DMV says he is disabled. The meds he needs are expensive so we're trying to enroll him in a free/cheap program set up by the pharma co and that seems to be a dog-awful slow process as well.

He actually had a job recently (with full disclosure of his condition) but after the first seizure on the job he was dismissed and told he could come back only if/when he had his own business license and was self-insured releasing the owner's insurance from liability. Come on...(rhetorical) isn't that what the owner's insurance is for? What if one of the non-afflicted people get hurt? Who pays that bill? Your insurance does! I digress...

I do the best I can to help financially, but there is no "money" in my family to lean on and I was just laid off of work a few months ago and unemployment compensation has dried up- I'm broke and he has no income outside of $200/mo in food credits he gets from the state.

So that's the gist of it- I need to research on how to get him financial help but, thus far, nothing seems to work- we're just out in the cold. But hey, at least some rich guy somewhere can afford to put gas in his poor little Lamborghini by way of lower taxes. At least we can still afford to fund those two (arguably) unnecessary wars (while so-called "conservative" politicians stump to fund a third war)- I'm sooo thankful for that. :roll:

 

[Endless]

Try calling 2-1-1. They will help your brother hook up with all the local social service/ nonprofit resources in your area. Maybe one of them could help.

http://www.211.org/

 

[Kona]

how do you do, Brian? It's very nice to meet you!

There's plenty of people to meet, and things to find out here, so feel free to plop yourself down, kick your feet up, and just hang out! The dinner party is flowing well, and people are chatting.

I think Buckeye has the decent coffee today. I have some great tea, but I keep burning coffee for some reason.

There's a great Padded Room here for the days that you need to vent, and tons of information to be found in the Kitchen and the Library.

Have a great time, and we'll be sure to enjoy your company!!

Meetz
:rock:

I did see "The Padded Room" section- it says "CWE Only" so I avoided posting there.

 

[Nakamova]

The Padded Room is designated "CWE only" because it's the one CWE forum where posts are kept private from search engines. All our other forums are open to googling. Feel free to post there!

 

[Wobblez]

Just saying hi Kona, I've just joined the forum today. Good on you for being such a supportive brother, as an epileptic myself I understand where your brother is coming from, it is hard to know where to start, and it must be especially hard to adjust given he is only just becoming epileptic now. I've had childhood epilepsy so it's not quite so foreign to me.