Danang Sailor
nullius in verba
I haven't posted much here in the last week, and haven't sent some PM's that I promised. Please believe that this was
not meant to slight anyone; I've been dealing with some troubling family stuff. Permit me to share a bit of
background information.
Jared, my youngest, was born with an unusual and amazing artistic talent. His handwriting was beautiful, and
he could draw wonderful pictures of the world around him. His forte, however, was in abstract work; he could paint
pure colors that were incredibly beautiful ...
and he accomplished all of this by the time he was six. Then, disaster struck. He was visiting his grandparents
in California, who had a Mexican quarry tile foyer. He discovered that he could slide really, really fast
across this surface in his socks; he did it once too often and hit his forehead, hard, on the door knob. He had a knot
on his forehead but the doctors could find no permanent damage. However, his handwriting was suddenly
unreadable, and his artistic talent was simply ... gone. From that time he had frequent headaches, which became
his constant daily companions. Over time he began to get occasional migraines, which slowly increased in
frequency and intensity, to the place where they were debilitating and forced him to give up his quest for
his Master's degree earlier this year. (Dragonfly Lady and I noticed that whenever he had one of these intense
migraines, the place on his forehead where he had hit the door knob 23 years ago would always swell like it had
then.) Over the years we took him to every sort of doctor, to no avail.
So much for background. Last Thursday afternoon Jared had what to all appearances was a grand mal seizure that
lasted for more than 20 minutes. He was transported to the ER but there were no more events. Eventually he was
stabilized and admitted. Still, no one could find the cause of the apparent seizures even though a CT scan,
MRI, and EEG were done. He was held one more night for observation and sent home on Saturday morning.
Saturday night, it happened again and once again we had an ambulance ride to the ER. This time it was not as
bad, and he was released to return home early Sunday morning. Sunday night another episode and another
trip to the ER. This time the seizure-like activity kept on happening and the ER staff could see for themselves
what we had been describing. He had to be held down by four nurses and an intern just so they could draw a
blood sample. He was kept this time until Thursday morning when he was discharged. Since there were things
happening during these events that don't happen during seizures the hospital staff and neurologist don't think
they actually were seizures, but they also don't have a clue as to what they were. He has been referred to the KU
Medical Center in Kansas City, where they can do a 48 hour video EEG and perhaps get some answers. In the
meantime, Dragonfly Lady and I are not sleeping well and even our stress has developed stress!
It is my conviction that all of this is directly related to that closed head injury Jared suffered back on the quarry
tile when he was six. The progression of headaches, migraines, and now this "neurological event of unknown origin"
seem to me to be directly tied to that one accident ... especially since these pseudo-seizures produce that same
swelling on his forehead, in that exact same place.
I'll update this as information becomes available.
not meant to slight anyone; I've been dealing with some troubling family stuff. Permit me to share a bit of
background information.
Jared, my youngest, was born with an unusual and amazing artistic talent. His handwriting was beautiful, and
he could draw wonderful pictures of the world around him. His forte, however, was in abstract work; he could paint
pure colors that were incredibly beautiful ...
and he accomplished all of this by the time he was six. Then, disaster struck. He was visiting his grandparents
in California, who had a Mexican quarry tile foyer. He discovered that he could slide really, really fast
across this surface in his socks; he did it once too often and hit his forehead, hard, on the door knob. He had a knot
on his forehead but the doctors could find no permanent damage. However, his handwriting was suddenly
unreadable, and his artistic talent was simply ... gone. From that time he had frequent headaches, which became
his constant daily companions. Over time he began to get occasional migraines, which slowly increased in
frequency and intensity, to the place where they were debilitating and forced him to give up his quest for
his Master's degree earlier this year. (Dragonfly Lady and I noticed that whenever he had one of these intense
migraines, the place on his forehead where he had hit the door knob 23 years ago would always swell like it had
then.) Over the years we took him to every sort of doctor, to no avail.
So much for background. Last Thursday afternoon Jared had what to all appearances was a grand mal seizure that
lasted for more than 20 minutes. He was transported to the ER but there were no more events. Eventually he was
stabilized and admitted. Still, no one could find the cause of the apparent seizures even though a CT scan,
MRI, and EEG were done. He was held one more night for observation and sent home on Saturday morning.
Saturday night, it happened again and once again we had an ambulance ride to the ER. This time it was not as
bad, and he was released to return home early Sunday morning. Sunday night another episode and another
trip to the ER. This time the seizure-like activity kept on happening and the ER staff could see for themselves
what we had been describing. He had to be held down by four nurses and an intern just so they could draw a
blood sample. He was kept this time until Thursday morning when he was discharged. Since there were things
happening during these events that don't happen during seizures the hospital staff and neurologist don't think
they actually were seizures, but they also don't have a clue as to what they were. He has been referred to the KU
Medical Center in Kansas City, where they can do a 48 hour video EEG and perhaps get some answers. In the
meantime, Dragonfly Lady and I are not sleeping well and even our stress has developed stress!
It is my conviction that all of this is directly related to that closed head injury Jared suffered back on the quarry
tile when he was six. The progression of headaches, migraines, and now this "neurological event of unknown origin"
seem to me to be directly tied to that one accident ... especially since these pseudo-seizures produce that same
swelling on his forehead, in that exact same place.
I'll update this as information becomes available.
