My Life Long Obstacle
In my life, one of the obstacles I’ve had to overcome and still to this day battle with are that I have Epilepsy Seizures. However I was not born with my epilepsy, I developed it after an accident. It all started one day many many years ago in kindergarten, I went to to the restroom and as I walked in I saw someone splashing water all over the place. I thought nothing of it at the time, until I took a step, slipped, and fell. When I fell I hit my head on the tile floor, triggering me to black out. It is not very common for people who end up injuring themselves from something so minor like slipping. I now have have seizures due to the accident. In fact studies have proven it is only about 5% of people that get seizures from head/brain trauma. Unfortunately, I happen to be a part of that 5 percentile. When the seizures first began, the doctors called them absent seizures or staring spells, basically meaning when you zone out for approximately 3-4 seconds and then snap out of it. These seizures can cause you to not remember what you may have been speaking of at the moment, or what you were doing or going to do. Growing up, the doctor’s believed that I would possibly grow out of the “Staring Spells”.
As I grew older, we had noticed for a small amount of time that they had started to go away, or so we thought. After thinking that I was finally beginning to outgrow them, my family and I realized due to lack of sleep, the staring spells began to increase. My primary physician Dr. Theodore Sobieralski from Visalia California, then sent me to see the neurologist from Fresno’s own Valley Children’s Hospital. The doctor from the hospital then told my family that I needed to begin taking medication to help prevent my seizures from happening. Being the young teenager that I was, I took the medication subscribed to me for a short period of time and then stopped. We went for a checkup to make sure things were okay, but the seizures were continuing. They were not absolutely certain how my brain waves had looked while I was having seizures, so they then schedule me to have an EEG done. An EEG is used to detect problems in the electrical activity of the brain that may be associated with certain brain disorders such as the one I suffer from. After my EEG, I felt fine and hoped the test results would be similar to how I felt. The hospital was so backed up we were told that we must wait to receive the results.
However, about a month later, it all took a turn for the worst, I chose to stay up late one night, I woke up early the next morning to join my family for some breakfast. I felt exhausted, before I Knew it I was experiencing my first ever Grand Mal Seizure. From that day on, It has changed my life dramatically, I can no longer drive myself to places like I used to. I now have to depend on friends or family to drive me places. So now I have to wait for an appointment with Fresno neurologist again for my results of the EEG. I now have learned my lesson and know to not to stay up too late. Taking care of my body is very important and won't do anything to provoke things to worsen.
Now for others suffering or who may suffer from the same things I suffer from, just know that it will be okay and everything will definitely work out for the best. The most important thing to keep in mind your health. Don’t ever let it bring you down because you can’t drive or can’t participate in sports such as football because it is for your own safety. So my lesson to you is to always be positive no matter what the circumstances may be, because you will see another day and the next day might be brighter than the last.
PSA: Drinking and Driving Kills
Izaiah Diaz
Mr. Britten
English 12
November 3rd, 2015
Drinking and Driving Kills
Have you ever lost someone close to you due to either them or another person making a bad decision and drinking and driving? The issue of drunk driving has affected many people and will continue to affect people if we do not act on it now. Families do not deserve to suffer because someone decided to drink and then get behind the wheel. Many Americans do not realise that every single day in America, roughly around 28 people die as a result of this terrible issue. Also, every 2 minutes, a person is injured in drunk driving accidents. Recent reports show that 50 to 75% of convicted drunk drivers continue to drive on suspended licenses (Peck, R.C., Wilson, R. J., and Sutton, L. 1995). Innocent people should not die from something that we can control. Tomorrow’s future should not be killed today! With that being said, do not just stand around and watch, do your part, take action and save lives.
Works Cited
"MADD - Drunk Driving Statistics." MADD - Drunk Driving Statistics. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.