Before
The four weeks since I had last seen the team had been four of the easier ones in terms of the epilepsy…I’m not saying it was great but I was doing ok, it would appear the med increase was finally doing something. I had a few days the week following the appointment where I felt like something was brewing but nothing came of it. I did however spend quite a lot of time in bed napping as the drug change was making me very sleepy. The week before this appointment Chris and I took the opportunity of no medical appointments to get away for two nights, not anywhere far, but just a bit of seaside fresh air. We remembered to pack the maternity notes so that there would be no mad dash if anything went wrong. But for once all went in our favour. I had auras both mornings we were away but neither amounted to anything. So it was a good break and it was lovely to spend some time being just a couple rather than everything being one medical appointment after another. However the pregnancy sickness hasn’t been any better in fact it has got worse again, lucky me and Chris!
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Epilepsy affects all
In keeping with the theme that epilepsy affects whole families and not just the person with epilepsy, and I think it is fair to say this trimester has taken its toll on Chris too. This is the first of a two part entry covering the second trimester, lining up with my entries as much as he could. Epilepsy debate I sat down to watch this with Faye and it took us a while to go through it as she was taking notes the whole way through it. I was really pleased that epilepsy was getting some exposure. My first surprise is how much the local governments were failing to meet NICE guidelines, and the variations in care depending on where in the country you were. So much has happened in the run up to this appointment that I have barely had time to think about it. Chris is on his best friends’ stag do – a much needed break, but it means he won’t be with me on the day.
We did sit down and have a chat shortly before he went away, he gave me his opinion of how he thinks things have been. He doesn’t think things are any better, and he is well aware of how tired the Keppra has been making me. I also raised the point to Chris that I don’t think the last four weeks have been a fair judge of the introduction of Keppra, which he is in agreement with. I have been under a lot of stress and my sleep has been disturbed so both auras and absences have increased. However this always happened no matter how well controlled the epilepsy was if I am tired or stressed, so like I say Keppra hasn’t really been given a fair chance and I think my opinion would be to give it another month and hope things in life settle down on a personal front and therefore the epilepsy will also calm down. I have also been being sick quite a bit again so I haven’t really stood a chance. I am tired, really flipping tired. I have also been suffering with heartburn which has meant I have been up several times in the night, again not great! I’m sure this blog post was destined to never be posted, and after the last one is pretty tame. My memory of these two appointments is hazy now as I’m trying to cover things that happened the best part of four/five weeks ago and bare in mind this was prior to my epic face plant down the stairs but I shall do my best, so this is a quick summary to bring us up to date. The blogs following this one will cover the aftermath of the TC seizure.
Time to meet baby
My hospital do things a bit differently, when you go for your first scan, you also see the midwife for the first time, and have all the routine blood tests. Sat in the waiting area I was so nervous, I dont think I still believed that this was actually happening. We went in to meet the midwife first of all and answer the huge list of questions she had for us.This was going fine until it became clear that she had no idea about epilepsy and pregnancy. She barely glanced at the notes from the neurology appointment the week before. she went on to suggest I may like a birth at a birthing centre. I had to stop her there and point out that having epilepsy meant I was a high risk pregnancy and this would not be possible. She carried on but kept making statements relating to the epilepsy that I either had to correct her on or ask what she was basing the statement on. |
AuthorMy names Faye, mostly known for being a tea addict, swimmer and now Paralegal and part time student. I'm 36, married and I had my 1st (and only) child in June 2015. Oh and I also happen to have epilepsy. This is my story of Pregnancy, Motherhood & Epilepsy and the voice I have become for those with epilepsy. Archives
December 2022
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