Funny how much we can remember
May. 24th, 2006 01:24 pmIt was a simple partial last night -- threatening to become a complex, because while I was very much awake and aware, I was having serious issues responding to any external stimuli, and all my senses were going insane. I both enjoy and hate these sensations of feeling as though I am on mild hits of acid and ecstasy.
It was a random one, not necessarily caused by much aside from my being tired. I was in the living room, typing on my laptop, and very abruptly got that familiar feeling of "oh gods the world is falling away and I'm about to fall and my body is disappearing" disorientation that often precedes a strong aura. Have you ever experienced nausea with your entire body, not just your stomach? Not the kind where you know you will be sick, but the kind that makes you feel as though you are on a moving boat and the waves are rocking from all sides, expect that nothing under your feet feels solid.
I immediately thought, "Oh, must take pill," and got up and
v e r y ... s l o w l y
began walking down the hall to the staircase, holding onto the walls and breathing hard. I heard Adam in the kitchen but it was near impossible for me to be able to walk in and talk to him. I just had to get to the staircase and
up the stairs
without the world falling
away
Adam had painted the walls leading up the stairs with a colorful splash of abstract art, made to look like ocean and sky and mountains and fields. To me in this state, it looked monstrous and deep. I grabbed the bannister on one side, the wall on the other, and took the stairs with a hesitation born from an irrational worry that they would suddenly turn flat like a ramp and I'd slip backwards. I got to the bedroom, flipped on the light, went to my bureau, grabbed the bottle of Trileptal, took one with a huge gulp of bottled water, rested for a minute, and then turned around to go back.
As I neared the stairs, Tuesday was sitting on top of the narrow half wall. I stroked her head absently, and very quickly she smacked a paw down on my forearm and stared at me with narrow eyes. I looked at her and said, "I'm okay, baby." And she immediately removed her paw.
I went downstairs carefully and walked back to the living room and my couch. I sat straight for a minute, deep breathing, realizing that if something happened outside of myself, I would not be able to respond immediately. And then Adam came in, was about to go to the other couch, then looked at me and paused. He came over and asked if I was okay. Then he asked again. Then he asked again. And then he stood on my feet, and asked two more times. Finally, my brain caught up with me. I muttered, "Please stop doing that."
"Why?" he asked.
"Because I don't like it." And I managed to lift my head and actually look him in the eye, something I am unable to do during a seizure for some reason.
He was satisfied. I could see it working in his mind, "Ah, wife having a seizure. Okay. Is she conscious? Is she upright? Is she talking? She's not in danger. That's fine then."
It is that sort of casual, level, calculated cool-headedness that I need. My husband doesn't get upset, panicked, scared, or grossed out easily. After all, he is a former volunteer EMT. He's seen serious gory wounds, waded through human blood, gathered up messy body parts, watched people die, and on one memorable occasion that led to him quitting that job, he picked up the head of a decapitated motorcyclist at the site of a gruesome collision, took it to his EMT buddies, and said, "Hey, his helmet still works! His head is fine!" And then laughed hysterically for three hours and quit later that day.
He is more than well-equipped to handle an epileptic.
After my episode, I was extremely emotional, slightly embarrased and guilty (what if I did things I couldn't remember, etc), upset for a minute, and then sleepy.
Wikipedia puts it best:
( Read more... )
It was a random one, not necessarily caused by much aside from my being tired. I was in the living room, typing on my laptop, and very abruptly got that familiar feeling of "oh gods the world is falling away and I'm about to fall and my body is disappearing" disorientation that often precedes a strong aura. Have you ever experienced nausea with your entire body, not just your stomach? Not the kind where you know you will be sick, but the kind that makes you feel as though you are on a moving boat and the waves are rocking from all sides, expect that nothing under your feet feels solid.
I immediately thought, "Oh, must take pill," and got up and
v e r y ... s l o w l y
began walking down the hall to the staircase, holding onto the walls and breathing hard. I heard Adam in the kitchen but it was near impossible for me to be able to walk in and talk to him. I just had to get to the staircase and
up the stairs
without the world falling
away
Adam had painted the walls leading up the stairs with a colorful splash of abstract art, made to look like ocean and sky and mountains and fields. To me in this state, it looked monstrous and deep. I grabbed the bannister on one side, the wall on the other, and took the stairs with a hesitation born from an irrational worry that they would suddenly turn flat like a ramp and I'd slip backwards. I got to the bedroom, flipped on the light, went to my bureau, grabbed the bottle of Trileptal, took one with a huge gulp of bottled water, rested for a minute, and then turned around to go back.
As I neared the stairs, Tuesday was sitting on top of the narrow half wall. I stroked her head absently, and very quickly she smacked a paw down on my forearm and stared at me with narrow eyes. I looked at her and said, "I'm okay, baby." And she immediately removed her paw.
I went downstairs carefully and walked back to the living room and my couch. I sat straight for a minute, deep breathing, realizing that if something happened outside of myself, I would not be able to respond immediately. And then Adam came in, was about to go to the other couch, then looked at me and paused. He came over and asked if I was okay. Then he asked again. Then he asked again. And then he stood on my feet, and asked two more times. Finally, my brain caught up with me. I muttered, "Please stop doing that."
"Why?" he asked.
"Because I don't like it." And I managed to lift my head and actually look him in the eye, something I am unable to do during a seizure for some reason.
He was satisfied. I could see it working in his mind, "Ah, wife having a seizure. Okay. Is she conscious? Is she upright? Is she talking? She's not in danger. That's fine then."
It is that sort of casual, level, calculated cool-headedness that I need. My husband doesn't get upset, panicked, scared, or grossed out easily. After all, he is a former volunteer EMT. He's seen serious gory wounds, waded through human blood, gathered up messy body parts, watched people die, and on one memorable occasion that led to him quitting that job, he picked up the head of a decapitated motorcyclist at the site of a gruesome collision, took it to his EMT buddies, and said, "Hey, his helmet still works! His head is fine!" And then laughed hysterically for three hours and quit later that day.
He is more than well-equipped to handle an epileptic.
After my episode, I was extremely emotional, slightly embarrased and guilty (what if I did things I couldn't remember, etc), upset for a minute, and then sleepy.
Wikipedia puts it best:
( Read more... )