As soon as I had my TBI I was given antiepileptic drug. Took me years to be able to say its scientific name! Apparently all people who have a TBI as severe as mine tend to develop the disease.
My first fit was when I was with my pal Steph at an art exhibition over a big glass of red wine!
At Save the Children, I was having a coffee with Margaret downstairs, with other staff milling around. I slowly slid down the chair....I would have been embarrassed, but my head was hazy.
My last fit was Christmas 2013. I was getting a woodcut print framed as a present for my mum and my close friend Jane.
I picked them up from my framer on Otago Street and was walking down Bank Street...
BLACK
...the next thing I knew I was sitting on the pavement with a couple of people standing on either side of me. I had a bar of Caramel in one hand and a full fat can of Coke in the other.
When we were trying for a baby around 2015, I was thinking of the pills I was on and wondering whether they may be influencing our chances.
I ended up going to see a guy in Glasgow Uni - I knocked on his door and he told me to come in. Literally the first thing he said to me was that he was a world leader in researching epilepsy. Now then, in my academic jobs I'd come across plenty of folk like him. Full of self worth and ego. To be honest, the best researchers I've worked with don't talk like this, they're usually too busy thinking about their subject and being creative in their ideas.
Anyway, we talked about potential alternatives to Keppra and came to a few alterations. At the end of our meeting he said to me
"You know, before you came in I looked at your scans. I wasn't expecting you to be the way you are. Would you like to see the scans for yourself?"
Intrigued I said yes, of course. I've made the scan myself as I don't have a copy of it. The bang to the back of my head forced the front of my brain to hit my skull. 8 years on, instead of frontal lobes I had fluid.
Now I'm not an expert but function of those lobes is vast with higher cognitive function. What can I say? My brain found a way of altering its anatomy in order to maintain its general function. Thank god for neuroplasticity!!
Comments