NAME — Kate Dolan
AGE — 20
RADIOI've had seizures my whole life -- my first happened when I was only a year old.
My parents said this was how they found out I had epilepsy.
I was sitting on the floor playing. I suddenly stretched out, stiffened, turned blue in the lips and then started shaking. My parents had never seen a seizure before. The grand-mal seizure lasted about two minutes. It's the worst kind of seizure someone with epilepsy can have.
Next, I was groggy and couldn't wake up for a while. A few days later, I had a cluster of seizures that I did not wake up from at all -- at first. I ended up in the emergency room and spent my first birthday in the hospital.
The type of epilepsy I have is called intractable. I have three different kinds of seizures, which are changes in electrical activity in the brain. Brain cells called neurons fire all together instead of independently.
The type of seizure I have most often -- about 20 times a week -- is called a myoclonic seizure. It only happens for a few seconds and involves sudden jerks of my arms or legs. Another type I have erratically is called an absence seizure in which I just stare into space for about five minutes. I know where I am, but I can't hear people and I will most likely forget what teachers or others say.
When I have a grand-mal seizure (doctors call them tonic-clonic), I get tense and look like I'm in pain, but I'm not. My muscles get tense and stiff, and then I sometimes scream as air is pushed out of my lungs.As my jaw clenches, I might bite my tongue or lip. (But I don't -- and no one with epilepsy ever does -- swallow my tongue. That's a myth about people having seizures). Afterward, I usually fall asleep for about an hour. I don't remember what happened; my only sign that I had a seizure is a sore tongue where I bit myself.
In the fifth grade, I had a grand-mal seizure at school. My teachers called 911. All the students were scared as they were escorted out of the room. After school, my teacher, along with her new dog, brought me handmade get-well cards from my classmates. This really cheered me up. I was back at school the next day.
If you have epilepsy like me, you get used to a life that is never predictable, and that's hard. Some days I have no seizures and on others I have eight to 10 small ones. Excitement and changes in food and sleep routine often make people like me more likely to have seizures. This makes it complicated to take trips and to go on sleepovers with friends. Also, I'm 19 and would like to be able to drive, but I can't until I'm seizure-free for two years.
My family and I have tried to figure out better ways to treat my epilepsy through the years. I'm a mystery to a lot of my doctors; they've done a lot of tests and still can't determine why I have seizures or where they are coming from in my brain. I've been on several different medicines and take two now that help prevent most of my grand-mal seizures. I only have a few of these a year, but the medicines slow my thinking and speaking.
Certain things I do can trigger a myoclonic seizure. I love to draw, but every time I sit down to concentrate I am likely to have a mild seizure. Using a computer, filling in the bubbles on a test like the Graduate Qualifying Exam and using graph paper also can be triggers.
I think of my cell phone and my Medic Alert Bracelet as security blankets. They make me feel safe when I'm out in the world away from my parents or not in school. My cell phone keeps me in touch with my parents and the bracelet alerts doctors to my condition.
I do my best to prevent seizures, but I don't let epilepsy control my life.
Sure, I wish I didn't have it and hope that research finds a way to cure it and prevent me from ever having a seizure again. Nonetheless, having epilepsy has made me a more sensitive person.
I'm not quick to judge other people who are different, because I'm different. I also am especially close to my mom and dad because they help me manage my condition.
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