My Seizure

My Seizure

3-23-07

It was Friday, about 11:30AM. I had stopped by Martin Cooks Farms to give him a bid on a drywall job. Upon entering the building I noticed nothing out of the ordinary; it looked like a usual job ready for drywall. I started counting the ceiling, but could only get to about 7 or 8 boards, then lose my count. Then I started feeling like maybe my blood-sugar levels were low. I remember telling my wife I hope he doesn’t come back in here and see me like this. He as in Mr. Cook. I knew nothing of what happened next, until my wife told me hours later.

According to her, my arm would keep flailing upwards involuntary, and at this point she knew something was bad wrong. Next, I fell backwards, thankfully she was close enough to half catch me and lay me down, where I proceeded to have what’s been described as a Grand Mal Seizure…without the involuntary bowel/urine movements. From here on I’m going on strictly her memory.

Apparently, this lasted for approximately 2-4 minutes, shaking violently, chest would ultra expand and I would gasp this really loud, labored breathing sound, consistently… then it would contract…over and over this happened, eyes were rolled into the back of my head ... then I got real still…like I had died. She didn’t think I was breathing but apparently I was, just extremely shallow. My color was really weird, probably from the lack of oxygen to my brain.

At some point I stood straight up, had a catatonic/apathetic look in my eyes, and even though I was wobbling and still twitching some, and even though my speech was extremely slurred, I didn’t realize it and kept asking her “what’s wrong.” My mouth was drawn in as if the muscles had been permanently shrunken. She was trying to get me to sit down, but I was just too confused.

According to her, it seemed like all of the sudden it just irritated me for her to keep telling me to sit down, so I went from being confused and docile, to extremely combative and uncooperative. I went from a confused mental state and obviously terrified as to what was happening, to a strange I don’t even know who you are look, she says, and I was coming after her, except I was still wobbling, like one of my legs kept going out or something. She says that if my body could’ve kept up with my mind, she’s really scared to imagine what may have happened. Apparently, each phase of this seizure changed from one to the other so abruptly that that’s what scared her the most…she didn’t know how I’d be from one moment to the next.

At this point she left the building quickly, and went to the middle of the road to wait for the EMS. She said she could see me looking out the window of the front door, and this I seem to remember, however it seemed it wasn’t me, or that at this point I just didn’t remember me and was severely confused. At some point I regained consciousness, but with moderate memory loss and severe confusion.

Apparently, I had somehow made it outside and was on my knees asking her what was going on. She had to keep telling me over and over from the beginning, I guess my short term memory was shot for awhile. She would say they’re on their way, and I would say who's on their way, what's happening, I remember thinking that maybe I had killed someone or...I just knew that something really bad had happened, I just didn't know what...then she would have to start all over again. When the first responders finally got there, I was apparently thirsting to death, but no one would give me water. Then they loaded me into the ambulance and started asking me questions.., I didn’t remember anything of that morning, or even the past couple of days. I didn’t remember my address, but I did know my birth date. They asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital, and my wife said I think he should, but they told her they had to hear it from me, so she frantically said tell them Chris, and so I did. They said she could ride with them but that she’d have to ride up front and also she’d be without a car at the hospital. She asked me if I thought she should just go ahead and drive our car and I said yes. Then she walked off towards our car.

That’s about when the real fear began. I was sure I was going to die, I didn’t know what had happened, but I knew I was going to die…personally I feel this part was more demonic than anything. I remember asking/telling God… I don’t want to die; I’m not ready to leave yet. Hunter won’t be able to take this, neither will Laura…and I’M NOT READY TO LEAVE THEM YET GOD!!! Tears would start, and then stop just as abruptly. Not once was I ever really able to cry. I could see Laura behind us for a short while, but then she was gone. They didn’t run the lights or sirens, and weren’t going all that fast that I knew of, but all of a sudden, Laura was gone. From there own, I pretty much remember everything else that happened…from the ride to the ER, what happened there, the ride back home…everything seemed to get back to normal, well as normal as can be expected.

It’s been two days, and my calves are still so sore that I can barely walk. I have an appointment with a neurologist for Monday, but don’t hold out much hope in them finding any reason why it happened. I have my own personal opinions, but for now they’ll stay that way…personal. My main fear is that because I/they don’t/may not know why it happened, what’s to stop it from happening again?

Prayers are very much appreciated. I'm only 39, this kind of stuff shouldn't be happening to me.

Anyways, thanks for listening,

Chris