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The Facts of Leo

Post ictal cub
  • Fact: Epilepsy has been around for a very long time. Seriously, there are Egyptian hieroglyphics depicting people suffering from epileptic fits. Many famous people had/have epilepsy, think Napoleon Bonaparte, Teddy Roosevelt, Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Neil Young, Prince, Dany Glover, Hugo Weaving, Susan Boyle...etc etc etc. 
  • Fact: Back in the good old days, way back...the time when people were burnt at the stake for having a weird looking mole, people with epilepsy were considered to be possessed by demons. As you can imagine, it was a toss up what got to them first, epilepsy or an angry torch wielding mob.
  • Fact: The word epilepsy can be traced back to the 16th century. The Greek words epi (upon) and lambanein (take hold of) grew together to make epilambanein which it turned into epilepsia, and then formed into the word we use today: epilepsy.
  • Fact: Epilepsy is the 4th most common neurological problem – only migraine, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease occurs more frequently.
  • Fact: When the incidence of epilepsy is looked at over a lifetime, 1 in 26 people will develop epilepsy at sometime in their life.
  • Fact: Uncontrolled epilepsy may be seen in 9 out of 100 children.
  • Fact: Up to 50 out of 100 people with epilepsy report serious side effects of seizure medications. 
  • Fact: Leo doesn't really know all the facts about his illness. And he doesn't really care. Can't you tell? 

Unfortunately, it seems like his mom cares, so that's why all I can write about is his epilepsy. Write about, read about, google about, dream about...I keep thinking...if I can just crack the code, I can make him better, or at least avoid yet another exhausting and damaging seizure. Me and The 'Batch, trying to crack that old Enigma code (The Imitation Game). Ok that's maybe a slight exaggeration, it's not like millions of lives are hanging in the balance on MY math skills! But Leo's epilepsy does feel like a giant machine of cogs, formulas, triggers, and neurons that operate off a language that nobody knows.
So facts, though helpful in winning a game of trivia, can't really get us who are in the trenches very far. 
But maybe...
They are just the wrong facts. 

  • Fact: Leo hates, hates, and hates stickers. Seriously, I could use stickers as a disciplinary training tool and it would WORK. (But I wouldn't, because I'm not evil.)
  • Fact: Leo believes a bath can solve any problem and make any day heaps better. (This kid has been known to have had three bath times in one day.)
  • Fact: After seizing his brains out for hours, Leo can still manage to smile at me.
  • Fact: Leo sometimes tries to give kisses to inanimate objects such as books, plates, mugs, iPads, trains, and pumpkins, just to mention a few.
  • Fact: The elevators at the hospital are the best thing since sliced bread.
  • Fact: Leo is almost 45 lb. and tall enough that when I pick him up I feel like I've just benched half my body weight and don't have to go to the gym ever again. 
  • Fact: Although Leo's school attendance has been patchy this fall, he has been able to stay for almost the whole day at least twice a week. 
  • Fact: Leo loves sleeping in my bed. (He likes to cuddle.)
  • Fact: I hate it when he sleeps in my bed. (His version of cuddling resembles an olympic wrestling/martial arts sport. You know, the one where the loser is spitting teeth and has black eyes and bone contusions. And I'm always the loser.)
  • Fact: When Leo goes to the ocean, he gets weirded out by the big and loud waves and has to go to the potty. Right away, all the time. Even though he doesn't NEED to go, if you know what I mean. 
  • Fact: Leo's favorite bedtime books are Goodnight Moon and Bear's Busy Family and Mr. Brown. Specifically his favorite pages are the mouse in the house, the weird singing Aunt Bear, and Mr. Brown's lightening. 
  • Fact: Leo is scared of lightening. And thunder. 
  • Fact: Leo ate two whole samosas the other day, and a turkey and ham sandwich, and a banana too.
  • Fact: Staring at the baseboard heaters makes Leo have a seizure. As does the gap between the fridge and freezer, the floor and the range, the counter and the dishwasher, the very top bookshelf, the black line on the bottom of the coffee table, and the bottom edge of the painting in the hallway. It's a party trick at this point.
  • Fact: Leo hates taking his meds and screams and splatters the whole mess everywhere, but after ingesting it eventually, always smacks his lips and says "Yummy."
  • Fact: Leo frequently puts the whole first grade into hysterics by gargling his drink every time he takes a sip. And he takes a lot of sips. 
  • Fact: Leo can always find the moon in the sky, regardless of the time of day.
  • Fact: Leo is only alive today because of the insane medical innovation of our modern times, some gutsy doctors, and a whole bunch of people who just wouldn't stop praying for him. 
  • Fact: Leo has sat on my lap the whole time while I typed this post, demanding stuff like kisses, high fives, food, and the first few minutes of Pingu on Netflix over and over. I can't feel my legs anymore.
  • Fact: Leo doesn't know the cold hard facts of epilepsy, but he does know the facts that DO matter. 
 And so do I.



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