Stories

Cherilyn Cox

Hello! My name is Cherilyn Cox and I live in Boise, Idaho, with my husband Randy and his sister, Marsha, who is going to school here at BSU. I am now 31.

My seizures began in infancy, but I wasn't diagnosed until I was 13 when I had two consecutive tonic-clonic seizures at school. I have had a wide variety of medications intermixed ever since. When I was trying to decide whether to have the vagus nerve stimulator implanted several years ago, I realized that I didn't expect it to take away all of my seizures, so I asked myself what my goal really was. Looking back I realized that when I had severe seizures they were infrequent, but smaller ones were closer together. What I wanted was to have small seizures, infrequently. Over time, I have come to that goal. I tend to go two to four weeks without seizures, and then have one or several all at once. My health is not perfect, but it is good, and I am happy.

For the last eight years I have been a grocery clerk, but I am starting off 2003 by leaving this job to focus on higher goals. I have always wanted to raise a family and improve myself at home, so we're getting ready to adopt.

Cherilyn

"Your problem is never your problem. Your problem is your attitude toward your problem."

Larry Mitchell

Larry Mitchell is the basis for this website. Larry has had seizures since the age of 7, but they were easily controlled until he went to college. In college they became uncontrolled and we've struggled since. Married since 1993 to Lorie, Larry and Lorie now have a son, Alexander, age 7, and a daughter, Aleice, age 2.

He completed his Bachelor's of Architecture degree from Texas Tech University in December 1993. He is taking his state licensing exams to become a Registered Architect in the State of New Mexico. He works as a full-time Architect Intern with a prominent architectural firm. He is also very active in his church in a leadership role.

Larry is currently taking Keppra and Lamictal and finally have good success with these two drugs. His entire blog can be read (from his wife's perspective) at: http://epilepsy.blogspot.com. The family's website is located at: http://www.mitchfamily.us

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Anita Sides

My name is Anita Sides and I am now 42 years old. I was born with cerebral palsy and began having seizures at the age of 3. No one really knows the cause of the seizures because I had two uncles who had seizures; however, doctors surmise that it is caused from the cerebral palsy (which one of my uncles also had). My dad was stationed in Duluth, Minnesota, when my seizures began and when the first one happened, I was taken to the base dispensary and the attending there gave me 10 times the medication allowed for a 3-year-old so I almost died. From then until the time we were transferred back to Alabama, I had to be taken to a civilian hospital. My parents could not afford one, so since the military denied transfer, my mother wrote her congressman here and guess what? Two weeks later, we were coming home!

I was given Phenobarbital, which I took for 14 years and I had numerous tonic clonics and what I called "funny feelings". It was not until age 17, when I went to the first civilian neurologist, whom I still see today 25 years later, that I knew that these "funny feelings" were actually complex partial seizures. He told me to track them and at that time, I was having as many as 30 per day so he immediately took me off of that and put me on Mysoline and Depakene which greatly reduced the partials. I went from 1971 to 1983 without a tonic clonic also. Since 1983, I have had 20 tonic clonics, but I guess that's not so bad averaged out. I consider myself pretty lucky. I've run the gamut of meds to try to control the seizures, but the best combination seems to be the one I'm on now, Lamictal and Zonegran.

I had a 10-year marriage that started out well, but ended badly which may be the reason for the seizures I had in the early '90s. I have since moved back home with my mother and brother, and father, until he died in 1996. My parents were and are still very supportive of me in all ways. I am very blessed to have them.

I have worked for the VA since 1982, but since things have gotten so bad and I have been treated so badly in the past 5 years, I am applying for disability retirement. The disabilities that are included are cerebral palsy, seizures, migraines, cervical radiculopathy, carpal tunnel syndrome, and low vision (I am legally blind in one eye).

I am starting my last term next week before getting my BS degree in Psychology. I hope one day, to be a counselor for the disabled. In the meantime, if I am granted the retirement, I hope to find some type of work at home to supplement my income because my income will be cut in half.

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Jennifer Stewart

My name is Jennifer Stewart and I have had Epilepsy since I was 2 1/2 years old. My mother told me when I was a child that she had me on the changing table and I rolled off of it (she turned her back for a second). Also, when I was a young child I ran up and down our stairs a lot and sometimes I fell down them. My parents were worried about me (if I was okay) each time I fell down the stairs. I'm not sure at what age, but my parents took me to a doctor and the first doctor wasn't sure what was wrong with me so my parents took me to another doctor to see if I was okay. That doctor said that he thought I had epilepsy but he wasn't sure yet, in the meantime, he prescribed a medication for me to take Tegretol 200mg. I took at an early age and I took Mysoline (blue pills) when I was 13 years old. I was about 3 now, and I started to have seizures at night falling out of bed, moaning at night things like that. My mother mostly was very worried about me and my father was trying to figure out what I had. My mother watched me a lot during my childhood to see if I would okay.

I have taken a lot of different kinds of medications through the years to control my seizures. Such as, Tegretol 200mg., Tegretol XR, Klonopin, Carbatrol 200mg., Zonegran 100mg., and many others.

My husband Clayton has helped me through the years to control my seizures too. We have been married for 4 1/2 years and we dated (friends) for 8 years. Clayton helps me to remember somethings, he helps clean up our apartment for me and does other things that I ask him to (or beg him to).

Feel free to e-mail Jennifer at: LOVES2WRITE@webtv.net

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Dale Welch

I am 38 years old and recently had brain surgery with the hopes of stopping or reducing the effects of the epilepsy I have had since about 10 years of age (we didn't know that I had epilepsy until I was 21). The surgery was performed by Dr. Gary Mathern at UCLA Hospital on July 18th, 2002.

I am always asked if this surgery will stop my seizures... that's the big question. For some people it stops everything. For me it hasn't stopped them :-(, but it has DRASTICALLY reduced them. :-).

For more about his surgery (including photos), please visit his website at http://www.hugger.net/surgery.htm

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