Living with Epilepsy

Epileptic seizures can be very scary to be around if you are unfamiliar with this illness. I hope this article will help you understand how knowing to deal with a person who has epilepsy can be very helpful for you and the person who has epilepsy. My sister was 2 months premature. My mother was very ill when she gave birth to my sister. My sister weighed in at a very tiny 3 pounds. Thank god my mother survived the birth of my sister,But we didn't know at the time that my sister would have seizures from being premature.

After spending 3 months in the hospital my sister was ready to come home. Everything looked like it was going well. The doctors said she was now a healthy baby. As time went by we all noticed how she would cry a lot and have what we called temper tantrums at the time. We just figured being the youngest and so small she was kind of on the spoiled side. We didn't realize that something was terribly wrong with her. We would soon see how very wrong we were.

My sister was now 7 years old. It was a beautiful summer day and she was playing outside. All of the sudden a neighbor had come running to our door almost screaming with fear. We ran outside and my sister was unconscious shaking all over. Then as quick as a blink of an eye she quit breathing. She was turning blue. We were about 3 miles from the hospital and we couldn't think straight. Instead of calling an ambulance we put her in the car and rushed to the hospital. She was barely breathing. My mother was very distraught. The doctors got the situation under control and stabilized her. After a lot of testing they told us she had epilepsy. This was 40 years ago and we didn't know what that was. We thought we would have to put her in an institution. We were sent to a neurologist who set us straight on some important information. He told us that a child could lead a perfectly normal life when the seizures are controlled. They put her on many different medications over the years. Although these medicines did have some side affects that affected her in some ways they finally did start controlling the seizures. The most important thing was knowing what to do when she had a seizure and not make a big deal over it.

My sister is now in her late 40's. It was a struggle for her as she turned a teenager then an adult. I am very proud of her. She is very happily married with 2
stepchildren and 5 step grandchildren and holding a job at a nursing home that she loves. She is so caring and loving and it shows everyday,especially
at her job. She loves the residents very much. So if you know someone who has epilepsy or is trying to care for a person with epilepsy please let them know there is hope out there.