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I would like to share this with you all.
Wed, 07/14/2004 - 18:50I am 34 myself and am very close to a 48 year old woman at my place of work.A year or so ago she had what was beleived to be a stroke at first but now having had several other seizures since it seems more likely she maybe suffering from sort of epilepsy.The very first time it happened she had a CAT scan which showed nothing "wrong" as such,well nothing that they could be certain of at least.I had never been around her when one of these had occoured until today.I was just talking with her and her eyes just glazed over and her head rolled back,luckily she was sitting down and so didn't fall over,she then kept drifting in and out of conciousness and starring wide eyed.I sat with her and told her she was okay and held her hand but there was else little I could do.After a while she did come around and did seem to be better than she was,I took her home as it was nearly lunchtime anyway,she asked me to come back later so she should come back to work as she said she would be okay after a while.I collected her an hour later and she did indeed seem to be a lot better.Back at work I told her to call me if she didn't fell well and she said she would,an hour or so later I went to check on her again and she appeared to be back to her old self.We went to the canteen to get a drink and whilst we were talking it happened again,this time she was standing and I managed to catch her before she fell on the floor completeley.For the next 20-30mins her eyes kept glazing over and she starred without blinking while again drifting in and out of conciousness.I managed to contact her daughter who asked me to take her over to her house,which I did.I am at best an emotional person and today has been quite trying for me both in terms of my own in-ability to do anything to help and watching someone I care for a great deal go through something like that.At the moment she is still in somewhat of a state of denial,she has an EEG scheduled for 28th June which I said I would go with her for.I don't for one minute want to appear selfish in any way with my comments as my concern is solely for her but it did upset me greatly to see her like that.
Comments
RE: I would like to share this with you all.
Submitted by seeker2 on Sat, 2004-06-19 - 20:56
Hello smallman28.Thank you for sharing, and no you are not being selfish at all.Compassionate yes,concerned yes.Both admirable qualities.She is lucky to have you in her life right now. As Michael has pointed out in his reply it was a scary time for you and you handled it very well and with consideration for her first.You obviously- as you say in your post care for her and have her welfare at heart.As shown by your actions in seeing that she was safe and comfortable afterward,and taking her over to her daughter's house.Could I ask how her daughter sees the situation,and could she also help with this/work with you to help her further before the date of the testing.You seem to want to help her-hence you agreeing to go with her for further testing and you are sensitive enough to know that she herself is having problems with this and have/are being willing to listen/help her up to this pont and further. Have you read any of the articles here on this site regarding first aid/or regarding testing procedures that would make you feel more comfortable in your mind and give you guidance ?I hope that everything works out for her when she does go,and that this does not happen again until a solution to her problem is found.
RE: I would like to share this with you all.
Submitted by smallman28 on Sun, 2004-06-20 - 03:52
Thanks for your replies.At this moment in time the biggest issue both for her and her family is a state of denial,she says she doesn't want it to affect her and change her way of life but she still doesn't see it as much of a problem.Because she says this to her family they seem to share the same attitude and don't seem particulary worried by it,at least that is my impression,I am not saying they don't care at all but they seem to think it will just go away on it's own.She does still smoke despite being told she should quit,and it doesn't help that all of her family smoke as well,the first time she came out of hospital someone else from where I work was with them and she said as soon as they got in the house the first thing all 5-6 of her family did was light a cigarette.I am not saying smoking is in anyway related to her problem but it is just an example of the way her family seem to show a lack of concern for her sometimes in their actions,the fist time she went for a hospital appointment to have a blood test her husband was supposed to collect her by didn't show up and I went and fetched her after she phoned me.I know people like to carry as normally as possible but it concerns me somewhat that at the moment she is trying just too hard and doing too much and her family isn't helping,just to add to the problems her son was also recently diagnosed with testicular cancer.Luckily we both have the same line manager at work who is also concerned and between the two of us we try to look out for her as much as possible,I have also been allowed the day off to take her to her EEC on the 28th June.I just hope they DO find something so we can get some answers,that might sound a bit strange I know but then at least something can be done as the whole epilepsy thing I think is a bit of a guess on the part of the hospital at the moment.Do these symptoms sound familiar to anyone,this is what happened on both occasions,I made of point of writing it down as she can never remember herself and her family aren't usually with her when she goes for any doctors appointments so the facts tend to get missed.1st time.Complaining of pain in neck.Felt strange,eyes glazed look,head rolled back,brief loss of conciousness.Vague awareness,heard voices but they were "just there" as if dreaming.Contiuned for about 5mins.Speech slightly impaired.2nd time.Seemed okay initially,holding conversation.Eyes glazed over,collapsed,partial unconciousness.Lasted for about 5 mins.Speech slightly impairedHappened on 5-6 other occasions in fairly quick sucession (5mins or so apart),seemed to be as a result of movement such as trying to stand/walk.Speech more impaired than previously.Felt cold and tired very quickly.
RE: I would like to share this with you all.
Submitted by michael46 on Sat, 2004-06-19 - 19:03
Witnessing your friend have a seizure was undoubtedly traumatic for you, especially since you had never previously wintnessed one. And, you likely experienced a severe sense of fear and helplessness throughout the experience. However, it is important that you do not undermine what you did do to comfort her. I have considerably more information I would like to share with you that may be of benefit to both you and your friend. Should you wish please feel free to contact me at: mhailey@telus.net