Back to Work, No Sleep (isn't that what you need for epilepsy?)

     Maternity leave was over.  Thank goodness the child care center where I worked had an opening for our daughter when I went back to work.  Work was nice and hard.  This was actually the first time I drank coffee.  Do I want cream?  Do I want sugar?  It was nice to talk to people again.  I missed my little one.
     Now it came down to seeing my neurologist.  What do we do next?  Is he going to mention surgery again?  Probably.  I still just want to try new meds.  Here we go again.  First finger to nose, thumb to every finger, walk on tip toes.  Now close your eyes and touch your nose, hold your palms up with your arms out and eyes close, and lastly walk in a straight line heel touching your toes.  Wait a minute, I'm not driving and I'm not drunk.  Oh, that's right, this is the ritual at the neurologist's office.
     Which medicine do you think is best?  So let me understand.  I have to work off of my medicine I'm taking now.  The same time I'm working up to the doseage I will be taking of the new medicine.  I better write this down.  Look at all of the side effects.  Insomnia??  I thought sleep was supposed to help epilepsy? That's just a possible side effect.  It doesn't mean you will actually have insomnia from the medicine.  I hate side effects!!
 

Pregnant, Working, a Beautiful Daughter

Thank the Lord working wasn't hard for me while I was pregnant. The only problem of course was having 10-12 complex partial petite mal seizures a month. I would not have been able to work if it wasn't for my coworkers. For an example, I never knew until I started going to clinic sites during ultrasound school that we had to help localize areas to biopsy. That means being close to needles! When my seizures got worse, they helped the doctors with anything that dealt with needles. I guess that was good for the patient also.
I worked up to one day before I started having contractions. Everyone was so worried about me having a seizure while in delivery. I wasn't. I knew everything was going to be alright.
Now my husband keeps up to date on everything. He read about cord blood registry. That was 18 years ago. My OB/GYN had never done that before because that procedure was just starting.  So we have cord blood stored.  Now you hear that quite often.
I am not sure if anyone else jokes about this when you do something, excuse me, "dumb".  We say who dropped you on your head when you were a baby?  Knowing that I might have a seizure while carrying Kristina, we found a way for me to carry her so I wouldn't drop her. But someone else did, my mom. Thank goodness she did it while she was sitting down. She's fine. I just say that's funny because my mom is the one who worries most, and she's the one who did that.

Pregnant With Epilepsy

After seeing the new neurologist and him knowing exactly what my diagnosis was, it was time to try new medications. First, increase the doseage of what I'm taking now and see how that does. Next appointment in three months. Surprise for my next appointment. We only increased my medication once because a few weeks before my appointment I found out I was PREGNANT! Pregnant on birth control and epilepsy medication. On top of that my seizures increased to an average of ten a month. Good news, another person wanted to do contract work for the hospital. No overnight call! We moved into my Grandfather's since he moved into a nursing home. This worked great because now I had stopped driving, and my mom worked only a few miles away from me. She gave me a ride to and from work. Side effects of the medicine, thank goodness, were only incresed risk of spina bifida. Doing ultrasound helped alot knowing what to look for in spina bifida while I had my scan. Normal!! Thank You Lord!

High School Sweet Heart and Auras

   Engaged in High School to a sweet heart.  Unfortunately he would be leaving for Texas after we graduate for the Air Force National Guard.  It seems like everytime I left the hosue I would miss his phone call.  Not long after he came home we got married.
    Ultrasound is a great occupation.  The only downfall is taking call, and no sleep when there is a doctor in the E.R. that orders an ultrasound on everyone.
   This is when my auras began.  A weird, I've done this before, same song, sick feeling started happening.  I was still taking my Tegretol.  Those "feelings" started happening too often that I went to a new neurologist.  The first time I saw him he diagnosed without any tests performed.  He ordered an MRI and he was correct, left mesial temporal sclerosis.  "What?"  That is scar tissue on my temporal lobe caused by a high fever.  My mom said I had a high fever when I was an infant.  Overnight call was not helping my auras, or now we can call them SEIZURES.