Alyssa

As I mentioned at the end of my last post; I was on Depakote. I remained on Depakote for a long time and I'll start talking about how that went. Starting out, it was rough, but it was more effective than the others tried before. Because of the Depakote, I had to have blood levels checked every three months and was miserable. Eventually, having my blood drawn was the least of my problems.


Here we are, the beginning of 1994. This whole time I was an only child. That was about to change. When I was informed of this change I threw quite a tantrum. Ran upstairs to my room and slammed my door. Ha! I showed them!

Alyssa was born September of 1994. All eyes on me OUT the window! "Oh she's so beautiful!" Whatever. Needless to say I was just a bit bitter at the time. She was/is beautiful, I was just pissed off. I mean look at those curls!

When she was still an infant, I was upstairs sneaking my allowance early since my mom was distracted with crying, crying, and more crying. Alyssa had been sick, and on this day she had a very high fever that my mom was trying to get under control. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon enough. Alyssa had what's called a febrile seizure. A febrile seizure happens in kids when their body temperature is out of control.

Back to the story. I hear my mom scream out "Call 911 Gabriella! Call 911!" I started to panic and picked up the phone, called 911, but had no idea what was going on. I didn't receive the 911 don't freak out seminar so what was I doing? Freaking out! My mom is relaying to me what's wrong. She was downstairs and I was upstairs. Wireless phones didn't exist in the house yet. Paramedics show up, I get off the phone and finally downstairs. By that time, she wasn't seizing anymore, but I knew it was bad. That's what I remember about her seizure. 

She had one more febrile seizure while she was still a baby. My mom was in the basement with her and my dad was upstairs where I had made the 911 call for her before. Something about that room maybe?? Just starts triggering craziness?? Eventually, she got tubes in her ears that prevented more fevers and more seizures.

Ya, I love her lots! And thank the stars above she was never diagnosed with epilepsy. However, this is the part I let you know that epilepsy is a genetic trait in my family. My dad's side. Because of the gene, it made her more vulnerable to the febrile seizure. I'll talk about that awesome gene a little later on.

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1993

After the big event, a lot started happening. I was sent to my first neurologist Dr. Savia, one of my favorite doctors. He was a pediatric (child) neurologist and would treat me until I turned 17. We started the process of what was wrong, what would be next, and how to treat it. The first test was an MRI, an EEG, and then blood work. Those MRI's were the scariest damn things, now they're obnoxiously loud and uncomfortable. My parents were asked to record me to see if I had any other types of seizures, particularly the absence seizures. They scored!

There I am just minding my own business ever so cute and then...

I saw this video long, long ago. When I watched it during one of my VEEGs (Video EEG), my twisted mind couldn't help but bust out laughing at that contorted twitch. Maria too, and she doesn't laugh hysterically often. So, if you laugh don't feel bad!

Notice though the length of time it takes after it happens for me to let my mom know. I'm only pointing this out because of what I'll talk about with Elementary School. 

After this video, Dr. Savia diagnosed me with frontal lobe epilepsy. Thus began the medicine-go-round. In the beginning it's going to be a hit and miss with the meds; but later on it just gets out of control. 

My first medicine was Tegretol. Didn't work. 

Two weeks later-

Dilantin. Didn't work

Another two weeks later-

Depakote

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