August 19, 2004

Brain Seizures

March rolled around and prior to that I noticed I was getting lightheaded a lot and my hearing was pulsating at times. Hmmm must be the stress of being a business owner. Well, I had to go to my daughter's cheerleading competition. She was 6 years old at the time. The music was so loud but I dealt with it the best I could. After the competition ended I drove my son home with me and my wife drove my daughter home.

I decided to stop at the food mart to buy some drinks for the house. When I got out of my truck I felt the most intense head rush coming on. I did all I could not to pass out. I had to hold myself up in the store for a few minutes. All I could think about was how I was going to get my son and I home safely. I waited until I felt I could drive, but even then I still had to pull over to snap out of it. While I was driving I started to lose vision in my right eye. At that point I pretty much clicked my heels and thought, "There's no place like home." I arrived safely at home. My youngest daughter greeted me at the door with the babysitter. I still did not feel well so I asked the sitter to stay until my wife got home. It was then that I lost all vision in my right eye. I felt I was going to die, that I maybe popped something in my brain. I went up to bed to lie down. A couple hours later I started to come around a bit.

Needless to say, I went to the doctor the next morning and explained the head rushes and vision problem. He felt I was having brain seizures. Great! Seizures! What else could possibly happen to me? Had yet another MRI, which came back negative of course. Then had an EEG. That was an experience in itself - wires glued to my head, strobe lights flashing in my eyes. WOW! I don't mean to bore you with all these details but it is for a reason, as you will see. Now the fun begins.

After the EEG my wife, myself, along with my 3 beautiful children and three other families went on our planned Disney Cruise, fun fun fun !!! I had not gotten my results back prior to departing.

April 2004 - Having a grand ole time on the cruise except for the fact that I was very emotional. I mean I cried at breakfast for no reason. I looked at my wife and wondered what was going on with me. Must be the stress, right?

Next evening at dinner all the action in the dining room started to get to me. I felt the head rushes coming on and then the tears fell from my eyes. O.K. just another night. Time to go to bed. In the meantime my friends started to notice that something was not right with me so I explained to them that the loud commotion and lots of people were making me dizzy. They understood. The next day passed into the evening, so back to the dining room again. The waiters were dancing, singing, and clapping all around me. I felt like I was going to collapse. I couldn't handle all of the commotion so I left the table peacefully and the dizziness came on like a ton of bricks.

I made it to the bathroom to wash my face with cold water to try to snap out of it. I needed to get some fresh air so out to the deck I went at which point I found a nice padded lounge chair. Baboom! I fell right onto it. All dressed up and couldn't move a muscle although I could hear fine. At this point I had no sense of time but I knew I had to let my wife know where I was and what was happening to me.

It was then I found my opportunity after all the people walking by me commenting how I was passed out probably drunk. Yeah. I heard all of them. I noticed a women sitting next to me smoking. I thought to myself, I need to get her attention somehow, but I felt paralyzed. I managed to lift my left index finger and moan and she noticed it. I got her! She asked me if I was O.K.. I could not respond. "Are you drunk? Have you been drinking?" she said. NO! Need Help! She then realized this was the real deal. She said, "O.K., I will get help." "Get my wife," I moaned. "What's her name"? I moaned the waiter's name and dining room name and that was it. She went off on a mission as I lay there helpless.

Well, help came all right. Next thing I felt was a hand of one of the wives who was with us. Oh what a comfortable feeling that was to have contact with someone I knew. I grabbed onto her hand and wouldn't let go. Then I lifted up and gasped wide-eyed then back down I went. The ship's doctor arrived, plucked me from the chair and placed me in a wheelchair. Off I went, face covered with a blanket so my children would not see my tongue hanging out of my mouth. Nice ha? Ouch! The needle prick. OOHH the medication hits my blood stream. Ahhh. Now my wife arrives. I don't know which was worse, her seeing me like this or the actual event itself. I cried and she cried but I needed to tell her I was O.K. The doctor felt I had a panic attack. After a while they brought me back to my room.

The next morning we called my doctor from the ship. I still did not feel well. He spoke with me for 5 seconds and asked me to put my wife back on the phone. He told her to bring me back to the sick bay for he felt I was having another seizure. Off we went tongue hanging and all. More seizure meds stabilized me. Two days left until home. Finally arrived back home and of course the next morning went to see the doctor again. He felt I was having brain seizures so he ordered more tests. I returned back to work and lasted two days then Wham! It happened again.

The call to 911 was made and ambulance, police, fire department, all arrived. I must say they were extremely fast to respond and took real good care of me. My hat's off to them. Thank You!! I was in the hospital for a week while they checked me head to toe. Conclusion: "We don't know what's wrong with you." Every test came back negative.

Posted by Jamie on August 19, 2004 12:44 PM

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