Read the Room, Vanessa

Well, that was a week. From last Tuesday to last Friday, I received difficult news or experienced something difficult, or both, every day. In this post, I’ll write about what was/is, in many ways, the easiest to process and one of the most time-sensitive. (“Time-sensitive” probably isn’t the right word choice here, but I don’t … Continue reading Read the Room, Vanessa →

Some Positive VNS News in the News

Yes, I mean news news, not news of the personal-and-complainy variety. Yesterday I ran across this article about five-year-old Emma, who's the first patient in Canada to have the most recently released VNS model implanted. When she was seven months old, Emma was diagnosed with the seizure disorder infantile spasms (IS); her parents are hosting an … Continue reading Some Positive VNS News in the News →

Boring Update

Due to excuses mostly unrelated to epilepsy, I haven't been posting on this blog as frequently as I once did—I'll try to be better, but no promises. I had an appointment with my epilepsy specialist on Thursday, though, so I figured that I'd make the effort to write a shortish entry with a (kind of … Continue reading Boring Update →

Bye(?), Convulsive Seizures

After reviewing his records of such things, my husband informed me a few days ago that my tonic-clonic seizures have almost disappeared. In fact, over the past two months, I’ve only experienced one. One. I knew, or at least suspected, that I wasn't having very many of them, but it hadn't occurred to me to check … Continue reading Bye(?), Convulsive Seizures →

Two Weeks to Two Months: A Tangible Sign of Progress (Yay!)

I've been going to see my epileptologist every two weeks or so to have my VNS adjusted—and for other epilepsy stuff—since, um, December? (Maybe since sometime in November. Please excuse my imprecision; I'm going to go ahead and use the "bad memory for neurological reasons" line, but really I'm just too lazy to scan through … Continue reading Two Weeks to Two Months: A Tangible Sign of Progress (Yay!) →

I’m Home, Getting Better, and Really Cranky

I was discharged from the neuro ward last Monday evening (appropriately, I guess, the date of my release coincided with Purple Day [for epilepsy awareness]). Except for an appointment a few days ago and a ten-minute walk yesterday afternoon, I've been more or less chilling ever since. I hate chilling. Although I'm super happy to … Continue reading I’m Home, Getting Better, and Really Cranky →

Above Average

I've never consistently tracked my seizures. Here's where, before continuing with this blog post, I make excuses for my shortcomings as a seizure diarist. First, there's the memory thing. If I have a partial seizure before bed, when they usually occur, I sometimes have to be told the next morning that it happened since I'm … Continue reading Above Average →

And Behold, a Jolt!

Remember the post—I think it's this one—in which I scoffed at how my epileptologist had warned me that I'd feel a "big jolt" when he programmed my VNS and then the sensation ended up being more of a big ’ol nothing, to the point that I was concerned that there was something wrong with my … Continue reading And Behold, a Jolt! →

Vanessa

Since the last time I blogged, I've made steady progress in the direction of adjusting to life with a VNS device implanted, cyborg-style, in my chest: I went to my family doctor and found a better solution for my nausea. I've almost completely eliminated ongoing pain by managing it with a combination of ibuprofen and … Continue reading Vanessa →