Spent my Saturday night there when a friend (one of my 2 buddies with
Epilepsy) texted me around 5pm letting me know she had had a seizure at
work, and was in the hospital. I immediately headed down there to see
her, her boyfriend was already there with her, and the both of us stayed
at her bedside while she consistently went in and out of it.
Normally
she’s in and out in about 2 or so hours, but apparently at work she had
already had several seizures there while waiting on an ambulance, had
some in the ambulance, and once she was at the hospital we all thought
she had been stabilized. Up until the point where her bf recognized she
was going into it again as him and I were discussing the fact that we
were a little disturbed at the way they were handling her case, as if
the doctor she had at that point and the nurses had no idea what they
were dealing with.
She continued to go into them as we sat in
the room with her, and we had to keep running out of the room throughout
the night to grab her nurse. Sweet lady, but she didn’t make any of us
comfortable when we could tell she seemed absolutely nervous and unsure
about how to handle this. One of my other good friends/coworkers who is
also her friend and coworker (we’re a costco bunch) stopped by once she
left work for the night, and as soon as she stepped into the room my
friend went into a seizure again. At that point they had finally decided
to admit her overnight.
She was moved into an ICU room at the
hospital out here closest to where we all live (again not the greatest
place, all of us would rather she had been taken to a University
hospital like the one I had been to for my condition). Had 4 seizures
once she was moved into that room, I lost count of the ones that
happened before because there had been that many within the span of the 5
hours it had been at that point. We (the other friend and I) were
finally a tad more comfortable with leaving her there because her
boyfriend was able to stay overnight with her, and the doctor who took
over from the other guy seemed much more confident in what he was
doing/dealing with. Hearing that her new nurses husband also has
Epilepsy was much more comforting to hear, and she had a very good
point, “nobody knows how to deal with this stuff.” She also spoke very
highly of the University (UNMC), which is where her husband goes when he
has problems. Makes sense. Every time I am seen by
Neurology/Neurosurgery right across hallway is the Epilepsy center. Each
have a half of the 6th floor in the Doctors building.
She is
having an EEG test run today to figure out what is going on behind all
this and why she had so many seizures yesterday, and hopefully not
today. Brain damage is a huge concern right now, and the fact that she
was hallucinating so bad was scaring the 3 of us (her bf, our other
friend, and I) because she was on so many different drugs at that point.
They had put an IV of Dilantin in her arm (the same stuff I’m taking
for my condition as a precaution, but in pill form), which did not treat
her well. She was also given Valium on top of it and I can honestly say
Valium on top of Dilantin while I was in the hospital too was not a
pleasant experience. It took the Valium longer to hit it’s peak and made
me overly emotional, as well as super anxious. This also seemed to be
the case with her, when she came to after one of her seizures down in
the ER she thought my friend was her sister who is now living in Kansas
and the poor thing broke completely down.
It was a rough night,
hard to see someone have to go through that. We were about to leave her
and her boyfriend alone for the night (we waited with her until he got
back from picking up overnight clothes) when she said right before her
3rd seizure in ICU , “I hate this why can’t I just be normal?” A feeling
I can all too well relate with because that thought swam in my head
through both of my hospital stays this year. It broke my heart to hear
that from her, and it started getting hard to have to only be able to
watch over knowing it was all we could really do on top of making sure
none she didn’t injure herself while her body convulsed or shook
violently. She had 2 of us at all times, one at each side holding her
hand as she slipped into seizures, reminding her to breathe hoping she
would listen somehow, and calming her down when she came to again. She
would freak out every other time she came to and realized that she was
hospitalized.
It really sucks that she doesn’t have family out
here, UNMC definitely would be the place to go for her, but the
ambulances that get her from work always take her to Methodist which
doesn’t specialize in any of what she’s going through and UNMC does. I
think we are all at the point where we’re trying to figure out how to
get it so that she can see a neurologist down there at least.
I
will be heading down there with another friend of mine in about 2 hours
when her boyfriend has to leave for work, that way she wont be left
alone at any point. Her and I share the same level of fear and hatred
for being in hospital rooms completely alone if we don’t have to be.
Please wish her the best! We are hoping we can at least knock out a
majority of the seizures (she has been having way too many lately within
the span of a few weeks), and find out why they have gotten worse.
Toni,…
I wish the best/quickest recovery for your friend.
William
Toni,
Thoughts and prayers with you all, those seizures are evil, I hope they can find out why so many in such a short time. They definitly take a toll on a person and the people witnessing them.
Blessings!
Marie