The Most Welcome Tonic-Clonic Seizure in the World

Just a quick note to inform you that on Saturday night, after over two weeks of waiting/lounging around the hospital eating bad food and attempting to work, I had a tonic-clonic seizure. Since I’m in the EMU for, you know, epilepsy monitoring, and since my epileptologist needs to capture a certain number of seizures in … Continue reading The Most Welcome Tonic-Clonic Seizure in the World →

Forced Meditation

One of the EMU techs came into my room a few afternoons ago and told me about a new policy: for ten minutes of every hour, I'm supposed to sit quietly, eyes closed, and "chill out." "I'm asking all my patients to do this," she said. "It's so that we get some clean EEG readings." … Continue reading Forced Meditation →

At Long Last, a Seizure!

Well, it finally happened: I had a seizure last night! Just a complex partial, but I'll take it. I've ever been this happy following an experience that should be semi-traumatic, except for maybe after a seizure the last time I was in the EMU. I had my electrodes changed yesterday, too, so it's basically like … Continue reading At Long Last, a Seizure! →

Best Anticonvulsant Ever

Being in an epilepsy monitoring unit is, it seems, the best anticonvulsant I've tried yet. At home, I have at least a few seizures a month, and that’s while on my medications. Here, I just finished tapering off Vimpat and still haven’t had a single “event.” Gotta get the seizure train rollin’ if I want … Continue reading Best Anticonvulsant Ever →

Sleep Deprivation for a Cause

There was a new epileptologist doctor on duty today, and she suggested that I try sleep deprivation to get the seizure train rolling. This means staying up until four in the morning, sleeping until nine, then making it through the day without naps—which, to be honest, is an only slightly shifted and shortened version of … Continue reading Sleep Deprivation for a Cause →

Sudden Turn of Events: Epilepsy Monitoring Unit/Worst Staycay Ever (Days 1 and 2 Complete!)

How quickly things change. One minute I'm blogging about a pesky tooth infection; the next, I'm lounging in a hospital bed in my moose PJs hoping for as many seizures in as short a time as possible so that I can rejoin the outside world and become a productive member of society again (it's all … Continue reading Sudden Turn of Events: Epilepsy Monitoring Unit/Worst Staycay Ever (Days 1 and 2 Complete!) →

Epilepsy and the Importance of Community

Some of the young adults that I've been collaborating with since the epilepsy summit that I attended in DC in July 2014 met in Toronto this past weekend to discuss our progress, plan upcoming projects, and work on our current one. It was an engaging, intense, fulfilling few days, and for the first time in … Continue reading Epilepsy and the Importance of Community →

EMU: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Long and Unpleasant Hospital Stay!

It looks like I have a tentative date—or date range, anyway—for an admission to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at a hospital here in Toronto. Yay! Yay. Yay? Ugh. I have, as I’ve probably made evident, conflicted emotions about this. On the one hand, it has to happen eventually, and I’ve waited a long time for … Continue reading EMU: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Long and Unpleasant Hospital Stay! →

Stretches: Unreasonable Expectations and Consolation Prizes

So, as many of my Facebook friends (hey guys!) among my readership know, I'm now entering day five of a seizure-free stretch. I at first attributed this amazing development to the annual kickoff of my almost-daily trips to Menchies, but yesterday I got my froyo elsewhere, so there might be—shocker—some actual medical explanation for it. … Continue reading Stretches: Unreasonable Expectations and Consolation Prizes →

Crash Course

So, I hit my head last Monday in the usual mid-seizure way, which resulted in a “mild” concussion (“mild” in quotation marks because I wasn’t told that it’s mild but just assume/decided it is to make myself feel better). I know, I know: it’s like every time I knock my brains around, they miraculously get … Continue reading Crash Course →