Oh the trials of being a parent. No matter how old our children get, when they are sick and/or scared, we see them as a little child instead of a grown-up. My 21 year old daughter Amber was addmitted to the hospital today because of her seizures. She started having Petit Mal or Absence seizures when she was 10 years old. It started as her seeming like she was just daydreaming but as time went on, we realized it was something more serious. She would seem to fall into a trans like state (we called it zoning out) and would last about 15 to 30 seconds. We had her tested and they found she had epelipsy. She has been taking medicine since then to control the seizures.
In 2007, she had her first Grand Mal. Thank God it was here at home. We took her to emergency and after testing found she wasn't taking her medicine the way she was supposed to. The fear of the seizure got her in the habit of taking her meds on time daily. She was seizure free for 3 years and beginning to do paperwork to get her drivers license. As a mom who worries, I wanted to make sure she was on track with her medicine. I noticed some instances where she was late taking it and wondered if she was going back to her old way. I prayed that if she was going to have a seizure, it would be before she started driving and not after. Low and behold, one week before Thanksgiving, she had another grand mal seizure. Thankfully, again this one was at home. I took her to emergency and they confirmed what I had been suspecting. Her medicine levels were low. Now the reality of her actions was beginning to set in. There went her dream of driving at this time and now her fear of another seizure had set in. We synchronized our phone alarms and set up the scheduled times on our phones and I was monitoring her.
Knowing she was taking her medicine the way she was supposed to and at the right times, I was starting to feel more relaxed. Then on February 8th, as she was getting ready for school, she had another grand mal seizure. This time, I was scared because I didn't know what caused it. I took her for lab work and to the Dr. and all her medicine levels were normal. The Dr. added a new medication and we have been observing her the last few weeks. She is extremely tired, moody and not herself. She seems slow and sometimes confused. Not her normal bubbly self. Thursday nite after she got home from work, Robert was talking to her and she zoned out. Concerned, we called the Dr. on Friday and he immediatley said he wanted her admitted to the hospital. He is concerned about why the seizures all of a sudden. He wants to completely take her off her current medicine and change to a new one. In order to do that, he wants her monitored in the hospital in case a seizure occurs. He will have lab work done and also an MRI of her brain to see what is going on.
This is the first time she has ever been in the hospital. She was reluctant to go. She is very scared! About 30 years ago, my cousin, who also had epelipsy, was in the hospital for surgery and had an aneurism and passed away. Amber said she was scared because of what happened to her. She associates my cousins death with epelipsy, which was not related. We tried to reassure her but when we were leaving the hospital, she cried and didn't want me to leave her alone. My heart ached to have to leave her. Michel was there with her and I think he will stay pretty late. At least he said he would be there late after she fell asleep.
I just pray that the doctors can find out the cause and that my baby can be seizure free and live a normal life.
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