I’ve managed to write a lot of gratitudes this year and acknowledge a lot of blessings in my life. Given that today is Thanksgiving, which is in the middle of Epilepsy Awareness Month, why not put together a batch of epilepsy gratitudes? A lot of people might see “epilepsy” and think, “How could there possibly be anything related to epilepsy that’s worthy of gratitude?” Well, we’re about to find out!
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My support network (aka, my family and friends). I don’t talk about having epilepsy much—it’s not something that comes up in conversation over Thanksgiving dinner—but when people I care about find out, they’ve always been extremely supportive. No one’s been scared off, no one’s tried to chase me away… it hasn’t cost me any relationships and not everyone with epilepsy has had that luxury.
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Medications. Even when they haven’t prevented my seizures altogether (that was a good 15-year stretch…), they’ve limited their frequency and severity. I stopped taking my medication once. I was in the epilepsy ward at United Hospital and they were trying to induce seizures. It worked. I had seizures. And I have no plans to let that happen again, so I’m grateful for my meds.
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United Hospital’s epilepsy ward. I spent about a week and a half there back in 2001-02 (yes, I spent that New Years Eve with a bunch of wires glued to my head and a not-very-festive-looking football helmet on top of that). I don’t know how many seizures I had or how many different types, but those wires helped us find the problem area in my brain: the left temporal lobe. That in turn helped us find the medications that prevented my seizures for 15 years.
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Minnesota Epilepsy Group. I’ve worked with a lot of smart doctors there and they’ve been really helpful trying to keep my epilepsy under control.
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Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota. I’ve done volunteer work with them for about a year and a half: reading at an arts showcase, working at their State Fair booth, volunteering at Camp Oz (a summer camp for kids), attending their monthly support group… being able to help others with epilepsy has been good for my heart and soul.
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Having epilepsy. Yes, that’s right, having epilepsy. It’s absolutely a frustrating condition at times, but it’s also given me the opportunity to do a lot of things and meet a lot of people I never would have otherwise. It’s a big part of who I am today and I’m very grateful for that.
