This Epi(lepti)c Life

Welcome back! Before we jump in- let's do a quick recap from Episode One. Tuesday, August 30th- Captain Clarissa, Agent Moon, Chelsea and Grantpa had a grand ole time at the Dixie Chicks concert. It was wicked fun. Wednesday, August 31st- Back to reality. Clarissa is in a board meeting, things get a little heated and she starts to get a funny feeling. Turns out- that funny feeling was an "aura" (pre-seizure "off/spacy" sensation) or something people often experience before having a seizure. Bam. 3 1/2 minute grand mal seizure. Ambulance comes, she goes to the ER, and then on to Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka later that night. Now-- As I recall, I had a pretty good sleep. Seizures, especially grand mal's, are a pretty good workout. The next day I'm stiff and sore like I'd climbed a mountain and then tumbled down it with my head cocked sideways. Apparently, however, Matt says that the nurses came in and woke me when they checked on me every co...

Welcome to REMIX Week! This week you will hear about "Episode One" again, but from the perspective of a guest writer. Which is.....(drumroll please)...... Lindsay Payer! One of our board members who was there for it all! Before she gets started, I do need to give a small disclaimer (darn those disclaimers!). Because Lindsay is a nurse and bound by HIPPA, some of this information is usually not allowed to be shared. However, I'm here to say that I gave Lindsay consent to write about all of these events! So don't any of you go hunting her down. ↞↠ It was a Wednesday night- during an Extension board meeting.   The conference room was full of board members, as well as a concerned constituent.   During a confrontational part of the meeting, we heard a noise like someone taking in a large deep breath. We turned towards the sound, and saw Clarissa stiffening and her color changing.   With three healthcare providers in the room, two nurses and a veterinarian, we spru...

The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back blinking myself back into awareness in our conference room. Now, when I say awareness-- that's a loose term. I was still pretty out of it. Let's just say I was no longer unconscious. Lindsay Payer, who is a board member and also an RN, rushed over to me and started asking me questions. I, however, was absolutely terrified and clueless as to what was going on.  I'm not sure that I can even tell you the thoughts that were going through my head; all I really remember were the emotions I was experiencing. Aghast, frozen, alarmed: those are all very appropriate words but I'm still not sure they quite describe the immense confusion I felt when coming back into consciousness face up on the floor of that conference room. Anyway, Lindsay starts talking to me and I imagine myself looking something like this:     or...  It's ok to laugh. I mean, the pictures are kind of funny. The picture on the left is actually from a kid...

Welcome back! Last time I set the stage for what I’ll be doing in this blog but I failed to leave one important detail out! We all have that one friend who is a lot like Moaning Myrtle (if you’ve seen/read Harry Potter you know the character I’m talking about). Myrtle, as her name suggests, moans A LOT. Every time we hang out with our special Myrtle-esque friend, it seems all she wants to do is just complain about how horrible her life is. Then you say your goodbyes and you’re like “Well, this was fun. (NOT)” and go your separate ways feeling less than refreshed. I bring this up to remind you all (and myself) that the purpose of this blog is to be informative. If I start to sound like Moaning Myrtle, tell me to lighten up and go see Hagrid and his happy lil magical creatures. You didn’t think I would just stop at one Harry Potter reference, now did you? 😉 Anyhow, with that, let’s proceed to the oh so eventful night of August 31, 2016 when I had my first seizure at the age...

Before we Begin... First of all, welcome to my blog! In case we're not friends in real life--- my name is Clarissa, I live in a small town in east-central Kansas and I'm 27 years old. I'm a lover of dogs, art, wine and the outdoors. INFP. True Blue personality. I'm the youngest of four kids and the proud aunt of eight nieces and one nephew. My parents live about two and a half hours away near McPherson where I grew up. I've been dating a stellar fisherman, carpenter, back popper and hugger named Matt for three years. Last but not least, I'm blessed to be employed as a Family & Consumer Sciences agent with K-State Research & Extension here in Coffey County.  Now to set the scene, I've always been a pretty healthy gal until nearly two years ago now when I had my first of five seizures (and boy was THAT a fun night! But more on that next time). So, if I started having seizures nearly two years ago, why am I just now starting to write about it? A ...