Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Coco Tuesday

As you may or may not know, Coco is off his seizure medicine.
When he had his epileptic seizures last March, he started out with “drop” seizures (atonic seizures which make the muscles give out, resulting in a fall) which (we think) accumulated to make his brain overload and give him a generalized tonic-clonic seizure (previously known as “Grand Mal” but we just call it “big seizure” for short).
He had the first big seizure in their bathroom.
My point is this. The other day he and I were in the bathroom and he was standing in the place where he was then, and I thought, “My, he’s gotten big.”
Because, see, I’ve got this snapshot of him writhing on the floor burned in my brain and his current self is quite a lot bigger.
[If that depressed you, I’m sorry for not living up to my Facetiae code. I promise I’ll be silly again soon.]
But back to him being off the medicine. Of course we need to be extra-vigilant now. Okay, it’s a price I’m willing to pay. But ever since he’s seen Home Alone he thinks one of the coolest things to do is run and then plonk to his knees and slide on the floor. And when you’re not looking, the “plonk” sounds a lot like a drop seizure.
I need a pacemaker.
Also, epileptics often get an aura, which you can think of, I guess, as either a small seizure or as a warning feeling. He’s almost four, so getting him to understand that this is something to be aware of is, well, impossible. So I try to second-guess. The other day (when he had the fever), he said he heard Santa Claus – meaning a ringing in his ears. If you are like me, you’re thinking “aura.” If you’re a lot smarter, you’re thinking windchimes, and you’d be right.
Can you blame me for wanting a “normal” week?

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