The Signing

After the seizure I saw a neurologist who signed off on my paperwork stating that I was ok to drive. Did you know that if you have a seizure you have to have papers signed? Yeah, me either but I did and he did so all is good.

Mostly...

As I mentioned in my previous post, Wellbutrin can cause seizures. According to the FDA: "Bupropion is associated with seizures in approximately 0.4% (4/1,000) of patients treated at doses up to 450 mg/day. This incidence of seizures may exceed that of other marketed antidepressants by as much as 4-fold."

When I mentioned this to the doctor he got that glazed over look that I used to give people when they'd say, "You're from NJ do you know my cousin Richard?" Um....

Anyway, I went on to explain that Glaxosmithkline paid the government $3.4 billion for fraud and false promotion of Wellbutrin and about six other medications. The settlement was explained on July 2, 2012 in The New York Times: "In the largest settlement involving a pharmaceutical company, the British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay $3 billion in fines for promoting its best-selling antidepressants for unapproved uses and failing to report safety data about a top diabetes drug, federal prosecutors announced Monday. The agreement also includes civil penalties for improper marketing of a half-dozen other drugs."

"If GSK (as they are now known) is willing to lie about it's uses are they willing to lie about their frequency of the side-effects?" I asked. The glazed look vanished and the doctor's eyebrows shot up to his scalp. Despite still wearing a mask it was obvious that I'd made him think.

He signed my papers :)

He did ask me to follow up with an EEG to make sure that everything was firing properly but that wouldn't happen for a few months. Guess it wasn't an emergency huh?! 

Stopping the Wellbutrin proved to be an depressing nightmare! My Seasonal Affective Disorder was pretty bad and I was suffering. I told my mom what was going on and she called her chiropractor

It's a non-invasive test that measures electrical activity in your brain.

The test lasts about an hour. It's in the dark with eyes closed...I fell asleep.

The tech and I were laughing about how often you get to go to a medical appointment and get to nap!

The worst part is the goo they use as a conductor between the electrode and the scalp. I couldn't wait to get home and wash my hair!

The results came back clear and confirmed that I do have a brain. 

This spring has been a whirlwind of activity in general.

Between bridal shows and open houses I have been crazy busy. The month of May has been torturously busy with the weekend of May 19, being the busiest ever. Three weddings, an open house, a birthday and a piano dedication.

I got it all done with lots of coffee and help from some friends!

Between the neurologist appointment and the EEG I also finished the tattoo.

IT HURT LIKE HELL!!!

It really did.

Not where my boobs used to be but down the center on my sternum. Holy heck was it painful.

I used some of the leftover lidocain cream that I had from my port to numb the area. It gave me a solid hour of relief while my the artist worked but at the end it was really, really tough!

I had the incredible opportunity to create a super cool cake for Cheval, who designed my tattoo. It was going to be the first time we were together since the tattoo was finished and I was so excited!

The bridal shop where we met installed a pop-up shoe shop and Cheval was going to be there for the launch.

The cake was a hit but her reaction to it was everything! 

She truly is the nicest person on the face of the earth.

I loved that I was able to show her the finished work and have her sign it! I will be adding it to the tattoo as soon as I can get in for an appoinment.

I had to miss my last appointment with my oncologist because I woke up feeling really nauseous. 

I'm really bummed too because it was supposed to be on Cinco de Mayo! I was all prepared. 

I see her the end of this month and need to come up with something fun. 

The boys' last day of school is six days away and I can't wait! Looking forward to swimming and daytime excursions with them. 

That's about all for now. 

Stay well my friends. 

. 

Adrenaline and an Ambulance Ride

I have never been one to pass up a challenge. 

Honestly, I am a bit of an adrenaline junky. 

Not in a freeride mountain bike sort of way but I'm not afraid of heights and I enjoy a good adrenaline rush. 

I was a competitive diver in high school and college and I have taken trapeze lessons, gone ziplining, jumped out of a plane and now have gone indoor skydiving. 

It was the shizz! 

Seriously! If you get the chance...GO! 

Can you get hurt? Sure but you can get hurt crossing a street or driving to work. I'd rather my end come when I'm doing something that makes me smile. 

I bought a package for the family for Christmas. 

My concentration for this year was on group stuff that we could do together. We got new board games, thing called the Shock-tato and two flights per person at iFly. 

Shock-tato and the board games are fun but the winner, hands down, was iFly. 

Each person got one minute of flight time, twice. 

We were in a group of 12 and when the first person finished they moved to the end of the line etc until you got back to the first person. 

It's not a cheap thing to do but was definitely worth every second. 

60 seconds doesn't sound like much but it's longer than you think when you are holding the skydiving position. 

There were hand signal commands because you can't talk in a wind tunnel with speeds of 70 mph+

The hand signals are really important! 

Learning the signals and knowing what to do when instructor gives them to you is the key to a successful flight. 

Following directions in general can be key to success. 

Thinking out of the box is good but not in life or death situations. 

More important than the rush that comes from flying is the shared experience with my guys. Glenn and I are not just sideline parents. We like to be involved and do as much as we can with the boys. 

This is one of those times I was more than happy to not be sitting on the sidelines. 

Sharing our windtunnel experiences together was fantastic and truly everything I had hoped for when I bought the tickets. 

We bought the special package to go back and do it again and none of us can wait! 

The boys are 10 now and the amount of time that they want to spend with us old folks is getting shorter and shorter. I am making a conscious effort to extend that as much as possible by encouraging family time. 

This was the reason for the theme for this past Christmas. 

We live in a society that puts stuff ahead of quality time and that's just not us. 

From cars to couches we buy as much used stuff as we can. Not only does it save a ton of money, but most of the stuff that others discard has plenty of life left in it and allows us to spend money on other things. 

Like indoor skydiving! 

My hope is that when the boys are grown and raising families of their own their concentration will be on creating their own memories not on the stuff that was under the tree on Christmas. 

While we are working on spending time together we are also not helicopter parents. It's never been our
thing to hover over our kids. Both hubby and I believe in the benefit of making mistakes and learning lessons. 

We also believe in independence. 

This paid off in droves when I was battling cancer. 

To this day the boys can get themselves up and ready for school. If I give them a list of chores they are pretty good about handling them. And, they don't look to us to be entertained. 

Maybe its a twin-mom thing. I never had the ability to just dote on one kid at a time. 

They did almost everythng at the same time: meals, naps, baths, etc. 

And, because I work with my hands from home, often just had each other to be entertained. 

This paid off again two weeks ago. 

Saturday morning at about 5:45 hubby was up making coffee when he heard a thump come from upstairs. 

He ran up to see what was going on and discovered me in a full seizure on the floor on my side of the bed. 

He called 911. 

I can't imagine how horrifying it must have been for him! 

The first thing I remember is being loaded into the back of the ambulance. 

After filling the boys in on what was going on, they went back to bed and hubby met the ambulance at the hospital. 

The good news is that all of the tests for serious things like a stroke or a brain tumor came back negative. 

The bad news is that they have no idea what caused it. 

Winter is a tough time for those of us who battle depression. I take a daily antidepressant but in the winter I take and extra one (thanks to daylight savings time) called Wellbutrin. 

They told me in the ER that Wellbutrin can cause seizures. 

I did a little reasearch and discovered that 4 out of every 1,000 people taking Wellbutrin will suffer seizures. I stopped taking it immediately. 

But, based on a study published in the the American Academy of Neurology patients who had Covid-19 were 55% more likely to develop epilepsy or seizures in the six months following Covid infection vs patients who had influenza. 

Well, I had Covid the week before Thanksgiving 2022. That was only two months ago. 

I was told to make a follow up appointment with a neurologist...I did. The earliest I can get in is March. 

Hurry up and wait. 

In the meantime I will follow up with my general practitioner and pray that this was one and done...forever.