Becky's Story
Becky's Story
A Level 4 Epilepsy Center
Surgically cured
My right temporal lobe epilepsy!
A specialized Epilepsy Center offers advanced tests to help diagnose which medication or treatment will work best for seizures. When medications fail, safe surgical options are considered, including minimally invasive laser ablation and neuromodulation.
I celebrate living seizure-free every day! In September 2012, a Level 4 Epilepsy Center surgically removed the focus of my seizures. My seizures ENDED immediately, my recovery was easy, and my memory had the ability to rehabilitate! I am no longer living in fear and prevented the possibility of SUDEP/Sudden Unexpected Death in EPilepsy.
I am medicine-free!
The focal point of my seizures was pinpointed at an Epilepsy Center in their epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU). They offer advanced diagnostic tools and tests to locate the origin of seizures. An Epilepsy Center provides a comprehensive team approach to diagnose and treat epilepsy. Everyone with epilepsy owes it to themselves to have a single evaluation at an Epilepsy Center to ensure they are receiving the most advanced care offered to prevent seizures. Learn about an EMU/Epilepsy Monitoring Unit in the video "How an Epilepsy Center Can Help" here:
National Association of Epilepsy Centers
How an Epilepsy Center Can Help
Utilizing a minimally invasive surgical treatment is a wonderful opportunity to support brain health. Since 2014, laser ablation has been used with increased frequency as an alternative to open brain surgery, as I had. The laser entrance is only about the width of a pencil, which offers a quick recovery.
Approximately one-third of people with epilepsy seizures are NOT well-controlled with medicine alone. If seizures continue despite treatment for more than a year or after the trial of two medications, seek advanced care at an Epilepsy Center. Ask your physician for a referral.
At the age of one, I became sick with encephalitis. My seizures were infrequent starring spells that were considered to be daydreaming back then. At the age of 23, I began to have an aura. I could feel it, but others didn't witness it. The same year, I drove into the back of a semi-truck without feeling the impact. After the accident, I had an EEG, petit-mal seizures were diagnosed, and I went on medication.
Through the years, my focal epilepsy progressed. During my seizures, I would feel lightheadedness, nausea, and quietly hyperventilate. I was averaging one bad day every other week with multiple seizures on that day. I experimented with numerous medicines, always cock-tailed, while adjusting doses and mixtures. My electrical storm kept firing. I had medication-resistant, refractory epilepsy.
I started having difficulty locating my car in parking lots. I became disoriented driving to family homes and had to consciously think about how to get there. I became forgetful of names and made lots of notes. I would retrieve the newspaper daily to see what day of the week it was.
When I expressed my concerns, people would say, “It’s a sign of getting older." I knew it was more than the normal aging process, for I was only 46 years old. My memory was deteriorating, and seizures were the cause.
It was time to seek advanced care at an Epilepsy Center. They have specialized physicians whose main focus is treating seizures. After my first appointment, I knew I was in the right place. My epileptologist was able to walk in my shoes. I set up a time to stay in the EMU and state-of-the-art tests were run to pinpoint exactly where my seizures were stemming from. These advanced tests removed the “how do you feel” guesswork. Before my tests, I was the only one who could try to explain what was going on inside my head.
During my stay at the Epilepsy Center, my medicine doses were reduced. When my threshold was low enough, the seizures began. All my detailed movements were recorded on an EEG monitor and video camera. Every seizure I had hit the bulls-eye on the same target, every time. The other tests conducted hit the bulls-eye, too. I was an excellent candidate for a surgical treatment!
My right hippocampus had deteriorated. It was supposed to be plump like a grape, but mine looked like a raisin. The neurosurgeon’s concrete decision was to have neurosurgery. The main goal was to stop the seizures from where they were stemming from, forever. Awesome!
I decided I wasn’t going to wait any longer…the seizures needed to stop! I wanted to remember my kids' concerts, sports, and vacations. My decision to have surgery was clear.
The day of surgery came. My care was in the hands of a team of experts with groundbreaking research and state-of-the-art technology. Everything was explained, and I trusted them completely. We were all in this together.
After surgery, my brain breathed a sigh of relief, and I recovered better than I ever expected.
My story could be your story...have an evaluation at an Epilepsy Center.
Out in public soon after surgery with no worries.