I'm on vacation with my family now.  I am going to take a break from my usual story.

     We are at North Myrtle Beach, close to Barefoot Landing.  If anyone knows South Carolina, it can busy during the day and quiet at night.  We like it.  Can you believe even on vacation I can have one of my "spells".  Yea, right a seizure.  Thank goodness it happened right before I turned the light off to go to sleep.
     The House Of Blues is here at Barefoot Landing.  It's a place for dinner and they have well known bands give concerts during the summer.  Every year we come the week before or after someone we like gives a concert.  Well, this year Trapt is going to perform!!  Lucky aren't we?  I want to go.  The ticket prices are not that bad either.
     After I find out about the prices and if seats are still available, my husband bursts my bubble! A LIGHT SHOW!!! A STUPID HEADACHE CAUSING, SEIZURE PROVOKING LIGHT SHOW!!!!  Why??  All I want to hear is the MUSIC!  I'm not impressed with a light show.
     Well.....I can look at it this way, either we saved money or we'll spend it somewhere else.  We are on vacation.

     The patient numbers kept increasing.  I just don't like scanning eleven patients in three hours.  I would scan eleven patients in eight hours normally at my old job.  I brought that to the doctor's attention one day.  He almost called me a liar.  First thing he had to do was look at the schedule.  Counted out loud the number of patients.  I think he might have counted it two or three times because he couldn't believe it.
     The next day, SURPRISE, I only had three people to scan.  He came in earlier than me!  The office had two machines so we don't have to wait to do a scan.  He started before me, and put twice as many patients on his schedule.  Why?  I only had three patients.  I would get a patient finished and he would be backed up. Patients would be waiting for him.  I said, "don't you want me to help you catch up?"  Of course his answer was a definite, "NO."
     The waiting room was the only exit I could take when it was time to go to the other office.  I wanted to hide my face when I left because he was so backed up I didn't want anyone see me leave.  I could have done their scan.
     The afternoon office was great.  No problems there.  I told one of the doctors that if they needed another person to fill an opening, I will take it.
     Something else to add to the list of "What else can happen?"... My medicine is making me be
DR. JEKYLL and MR. HYDE.

Why was I on a stretcher going through the hallway?

Well, after talking to someone and praying I finally decided to start writing about my epilepsy. Staying home from school because I just didn't feel good wasn't normal. If I didn't have a fever then I had to go to school. I was eight years old. All I remember that morning at home was staying in the bed and asking for crackers and something to drink. Next thing, I'm on a stretcher being rushed down a hallway. My grandmother was bending over giving me a kiss while trying to keep up with the others pushing the stretcher. I must have had more than one seizure because after that I woke up in a room with sharp stabs in my lower back.(they were doing spinal taps) A bad situation for them also, because I started fighting the doctors and nurses. My mom stayed with me the whole week that I was there because I didn't want her to leave. She did get to bathe at the hospital. Finally after all of the tests and blood work, the neurologist decided that I had Juvenile Epilepsy. Phenobarbital, a barbiturate, was the medicine that I would take for eight years. This is just the beginning.

JUST GETTING THE WORK DONE

     After getting wrote up I did the best I could to get everything done at the other office as soon as I could. That way all the paperwork could be filled out.  Everything already typed in the computer.  Last but not least, old reports ready to view.  Never like the other computer system. She had to do everything different.  I guess that's why they wanted to hire someone to work with her.  The others could refuse and NOT get wrote up!  

     How long will it take me to forget that day?  I hated to be at the office when the office manager came around.  He had no idea what it was like there.  I live in the South and smile at everyone.  Him, he did get a smile.  One that would stare him down, (evil grin ).  That might be why I went home with a pounding headache.  I learned the hard way to stop and be nice.

     The doctor and I started getting a system down where we would leave on time.  I started liking this office better than the morning office.  Now I had to leave the morning office on time and not get overworked by this doctor. Stress and epilepsy do not go well together.  I have never had a "spell", or one of my seizures that would make me drop the probe while doing an important scan.  More stress.  Just don't think about it.

ME !?! WROTE UP ?!?

     After my Keppra epilepsy medicine was increased, I was able to get irritated very easily.  The boss and I didn't have time to communicate.  Only enough time for me to explain what I saw on my scans.  Some afternoons the doctor would be in surgery and the office manager (a nurse) would have to explain to him what I said.  I hated that.  She didn't know that medical terminology.

     The hospital had at 10,000 employees.  All of the employees didn't work at the hospital.  I worked at an outpatient office. Now they wanted me to work at another out patient office on Tuesday. You are probably thinking "how?", since I'm not driving.  Good timing for me.  The hospital started a transportation van going to and from that office.  NICE!

     Now every Tuesday afternoon the scenery would change along with the coworkers.  The schedule changed also.   There was a patient every thirty minutes!! Sometimes that's easy.  It's a different story when patients show up late, the doctor shows up late, or the doctor can be too nice and talk to the patient forever!     One day the medicine took hold of me.  I lost it.  Unfortunately.  I had never been wrote up.  I went into the break room, closed the door, and called the head supervisor.  I didn't say any bad words.  I let him have it though.  Talking about how horrible the schedule was.  It was mentioned before, and nothing was done.  Do SOMETHING!!

  I left the room.  The doctor walked by.  Not only do I get mad, I can shake and cry.  It was going to be a lovely night.  Calm down.  Breathe.  Pray.  How many "spells" am I going to have tonight? Don't even think about that right now.   

My "Spells"

     After having 12-14 "spells" (complex partial petit mal seizures) a month, they started to decrease in number.  I wasn't expecting that.  I tried to think of what my doctor and I were doing different.  I was put back on Topamax for my migraines.  I had tried Topamax before for my "spells", but it didn't work. WAIT!!!  The only other difference was having the tubal ligation after my second child!!  I'm not taking birth control anymore!  Was that it?  I started taking birth control when I got married.  A few years later that's when my "spells" started.
     I tried asking around to see if anyone else had that happen to them with birth control pills.  Only a few women said it was probably hormone related.  Hormone related?  I still have cycles and those are hormone related.  I still blame birth control pills.
     Work was still work.  The boss didn't get fired, even though she went against policy showing personal information about a coworker.  The coworker who offered me help when I first arrived, was let go.  Yes, she was FIRED!  I felt sorry for her.

Gossiping - I just said "Really" and kept my mouth shut

     Finally, with the help of the co-worker that no one liked, but I got along with. I got everything in order.  I was starting to have a busy schedule.  She would type the patient's name in my machine.  She would then go to another room and do nothing.  That would bother the others. She said that she was studying for a career as an LPN.  I believed her.  They of course didn't.
     Here comes the "Really" expression I had to use when the boss gossiped. I don't know how many times a day I would say that word.  Now let me back up.  You have to get a special password for privileges into certain areas in the hospital's computer programs.  Our boss had that password privilege.  Now you know who was the gossiper.
     Somehow my boss found out that the co-worker made money on the side.  You can probably figure out what she was able to get into.  The boss having clearance certain areas of the internet is awful what she talked about. The boss did not get caught.  She said that's why my co-worker is not doing her work here.  She makes money elsewhere.  In my mind I wanted to say that is none of your business.  You definitely don't need to spread the word, or pictures around. She just wanted her gone and out of there for some reason.
     Our doctor had gotten so busy that he didn't know any of this.  Please Lord, I don't need the stress.  I know you just want me to pray.