A Week in an Epilepsy CLinic

My Week in an Epilepsy Center

By Baylis

I gave them a scare when I arrived early on a Friday morning at the epilepsy clinic for a week of testing.  My wife, Elaine, had pulled up to the front door of the clinic to drop me off and give the car to the valet parking attendant. I grabbed my laptop brief case and a brief case with three books in it. The clinic had said to bring a laptop and reading materials because it can get boring sitting in the same room for a week without anything to do. Elaine grabbed my suitcase, duffel bag and CPAP machine for my sleep apnea. We took the elevator that was in the lobby. Elaine wheeled the suitcase down the hall to the check in desk and I carried my laptop and books. When we got to the check in desk, I was out of breath and in some obvious, but not serious distress. They made me sit down and checked my blood pressure and pulse. You guessed it. I was in A-Fib. My blood pressure was 150/110 and my pulse was 140. They called a doctor who made me lie down. After lunch and a short nap my blood pressure was 120/80 and my pulse was 110, but I was still in A-fib. My heart is extremely strong, my arteries are clear. It’s just that my heart doesn’t have any rhythm.

One morning during the week at about 2:30 AM bells and alarms started sounding off like fire alarms. Two nurses came running in and I asked them, “What’s up?” They said my blood pressure had dropped to 80/40 and my pulse had dropped to 55. By morning they were back up to 110/80 and 95. I didn’t have any official seizures while in the clinic for the week, just a few events that the doctors said left some tracks on the EEG but not where they thought they should be. I haven’t had any more impressionistic visions, but I did see spots, like those when you look at a bright light. For years when I looked at a bright light I would see fuzzy yellow donuts. This time they weren’t donuts and the spots were coming and going more frequently. One morning I woke up and looked up to the ceiling where the infrared camera was located. The camera was on because I could see a faint red glow. When I looked away I saw spots that looked like Mickey Mouse heads. They were large solid disks with two smaller solid disks, one at each side of the top of the larger disk. However, the disks weren’t black or gray. They were a smurf-blue in color. They lasted until I ate and took a nap. When I woke from the nap, and looked out the window, the spots returned but this time they were elongated donuts. After a while I recognized them as oval race tracks with the track one color and the infield another. The “head” of the clinic said that the EEG activity tracks were not where normal vision tracks would have been, so she had two guesses. One was side effects from medication. One of my anti-seizure medications is very effective against seizures but is known for strange side effects. She said that it was also possible that my optic nerve was displaced. She said that any one of the five traumatic events that I have gone through could have moved my optic nerves. The growing of the brain tumor might have moved them. The explosion of the blood vessel in the tumor could have scrambled things around. The filling of my cranial cavity with blood could have rearranged things. And finally although they try to be very careful in surgery, either the surgery or the aftermath of the surgery when the brain tries to return to its normal place could have displaced some nerves.

The Head of the clinic is “consulting” with my regular neurologist about switching me to different medication. In the meantime, each new day seems to bring a new set of spots. One morning, it looked like I was watching an aquarium. I didn’t see any fish, but there was a whole trail of clear air bubbles rising all across my field of vision. I had one other “event” in the clinic. Again it didn’t show up on the EEG as a seizure but it was strange. One morning, I woke up and hit the event button that they had given me and called the nurse. She came running and asked, “What’s the matter?” I pointed to my forehead. And the Nurse asked, “Do you have a head ache or pressure in your sinus area?” I said, “No, it’s a vacuum.” The nurse asked, “Does it feel like a vacuum cleaner is stuck to your forehead?” I replied, “No inside my head; my sinus area feels empty.” The head of the clinic said that was a new one for her. I told her I was afraid to tell anyone. I didn’t want it get out that I felt my head was empty. OOPS, did I just tell you? Promise you won’t tell anyone”.  Besides I have proof that there is something up there. The MRIs show that I still have at least half a brain, even if it does have a few scar tissues.

Today when I went with Elaine to the store to pick up something, the sun was very bright and reflected off a car in front of us. This time the spots were purple and orange whirlpools.