July 16, 2004

The Beginning Of A Long Journey

It's hard to know where to start with all this...it's been going on with me for so long now....I guess the beginning is the best...right?! Well hope you're ready for a long one!
 
I have had epilepsy since I was about 2 years old, due to having encephalitis when I was 2 months old. I had an extermely high fever for a long time. I'm actually lucky there was no other damage done. I lived a relatively  "normal" childhood having petit mal seizures that were well controlled with meds and I went to my Neurologist for my yearly check-up. When I turned 16 my neurologist had no problems with me driving and so I started driving with no problems ! I even was able to stop taking my meds for a couple of years when I was in college and I had no problems for a while. However, when my epilepsy came back it made sure it got my attention !! I had 3-5 (don't remember it's been years!) grand mal seizures.........my poor mom had to deal with those. I'm sure that aged her dramatically. We had tests run...found no reasons for those and I never had any more of them. As an adult I have had complex partial seizures with no auras and they have been controlled with meds as well.

 
Things changed drastically 4 years ago, when I was 40...driving home from a nice lunch when I had a day off from work. I was almost home even ! When I came out of the seizure I had gone into a large tree on the side of the street I was driving on and I was in so much pain I was screeming so loud my eyes were closed. When I realized what MUST have happened...and I was in shock..I wanted to know if I had hurt anyone else. I had to clench my teeth so I could stop screaming and open my eyes. Well, the one good thing was that I had driven off the right side of the road and nobody else had been involved ! My left leg hurt so bad I didn't know what had happened to it. I couldn't stop screaming with my eyes closed...while they cut my clothes off --with people around watching...I hoped they were enjoying the show :(  that day I didn't care--. They covered me with a blanket and finally figured how to get me out of that very small car.    One of those nice emts sat in there with me telling me what was going on while I screamed, it did help to know though ! They got those "jaws of life" out to get me out of the car. Finally lifted me out and got me into the squad to transport me to the hospital. OH!!!! I felt every bump they hit on the way...my left leg was sooooo sore. I had no idea what had happened to it, I just knew how bad it felt  
 
Well, at the ER they worked on me for a while. I don't remember a lot. By that time I had just about had it. I sure wasn't very pleasnt to them. I'm sure they are used to that. I do remember one thing they did before they sent me to surgery was to twist that left ankle back "the way it was supposed to be" (their words). I heard it "crack", but it did'nt hurt when they did it and I felt so much better I was finally able to stop screaming!!!! I think I even sighed...may have said thank you or something before either I just passed out or they knocked me out for surgery. That's just the last I remember. When I woke up I sure looked different!!
 
I woke up in a hospital room with a  cast on my left leg and they had my right hip immobilized. I looked pretty bad!! It was scary to me!! And there was nobody there...no friends or family. My older sister did come in soon and stay a few minutes.  I saw the orthopedic surgeon later and he explained what he did and what still needed done.

 
He said I was lucky! Sure didn't feel like it!! But I listened to him. He had worked on my ankle and on my lower leg...ankle has pins in it and lower leg has two metal plates in it. I was thinking to myself "If I needed that much repair work done....no wonder I couldn't stop screaming like I was". He also needed to go back in and clean the site...then he would put on a more permanent cast for me. He was explaining that I would be off that leg for a while...no weight on it...also the hip was dislocated....trying to get it back where it should be without surgery...that meant staying in bed....boy this was getting worse!! When he left I couldn't help but cry. This did not sound good. I couldn't imagine why I had a seizure which is why this all happened. I also had to think that the man I had just started to get to know was going to run when he heard all this....I'm a mess!!
 
I went for surgery the next day, when I was out of it, the doctor saw me again and gave me more info about what's going on with me and what to expect.I wasn't ready for this!
He did the cleaning as planned, but now I was going to have to stay in bed for at least 4 weeks!! This was going to mean going to a nursing home that does rehab. Oh my God !! I was NOT expecting that!!!!!!!!!!! WOW will my relationship be over with now...who is going to stick it out through tha?!?! Well, we figured out where  my insurance would cover for me to go and got it all worked out. They got me transported there and another part of this story begins.
 
I know I haven't gotten to the part about the hormones and epilepsy but I really felt I needed to explain the whole story. I will get to that part...soon!! I promise!!
 
 

Posted by Rhonda on July 16, 2004 9:14 AM