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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

I Really Could Have Used This Information To My Advantage

My sister, who is older than me, (which is a point that has absolutely nothing to do with this story. I just like to remind her that she is indeed, older. Who cares that it's only by 11 months. And by the way, Happy Birthday!) was a freshman in high school when she had her first seizure.

K. has cerebral palsy.

We believe that there were some errors made in her delivery which may have caused the damage to certain areas of her brain. This damage does impact her physically. Her limitations are muscular and affect her legs and her right hand.

Her cerebral palsy does not hinder her mental capacity. At all. She has never had any learning disabilities and is quite honestly, extremely smart. She's got a photographic memory that amazes me.

However, because of the scarring on her brain tissue, she began having seizures as she approached puberty.

I remember, clearly, THAT morning.

She was finishing up her breakfast of scrambled eggs. She stood and suddenly, down she went. She began to convulse.

I began to freak the fuck out.

Being only 13 years old, I had no idea what was happening. I thought she was choking.

Yea, on small pieces of scrambled eggs.

And what made my panic worse? Pieces of egg had come out of her mouth covered in blood!! Well, no not really, it was only ketchup. But it looked like blood!

My brother, who was only 8 at the time, and I took turns running in and out of the front door as we shouted for the ambulance to get there.

Apparently, we are both very useful in panic situations.

Once she was diagnosed with the seizure disorder and put on medication, I learned what to do and how to react to any she might have in the future.

I learned that running around and screaming like a banshee was not productive. I learned that my sister was okay and not a monster.

Or was she?

Remember when I told you about this movie? Well, my father was not very good at monitoring what his children watched on television. As a matter of fact, he encouraged inappropriate viewing habits.

Wasn't he special?

In my house, we all knew who Linda Blair was, long before we should have.

It came to my attention recently, that my baby brother was convinced my sister was the Exorcist THAT day.

*snicker*

He continued to believe this for years.

*snort*

"Never mind the ambulance people! We need a priest - STAT!"

*BWAAAAAAHHHHHAAA!*

I wish I would have known. I SO could have turned that into a fun time.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

How scary, but the outcome and the torture of a younger siblings makes up for it now years later.

We watched it when I was about 11, sister was 13...I can still make her squirm by going "Like me like me like me" in a scary voice...makes me laugh every time!

Anonymous said...

And that was supposed to be lick me...man...

FireMom said...

Oh, that's funny!

ThatsBaloney said...

My sister tortured me with all sorts of crap like that. I never had anyone to pick on.
Good to know I can count on you in a panic though. Whew. :)

Unknown said...

Love it!!! I saw the very same Linda Blair movie at 5 yrs old and had nightmares for years.

~Scout

STILLMAGNOLIA said...

LOL...my third grade teacher had an epileptic seizure in front of the class right before Thanksgiving...imagine little third graders. She lay on the floor in front of the room....seizing....grand mal.....I ran across the hall and got the principal...I was terrified. They took Mrs. Lowe to the hospital in an ambulance....and the principal tried to get 25 little third graders to quit crying.....but I learned something....in the 9th grade...the girl who sat in front of me in Spanish had a seizure...grand mal....she fell from her desk and the class reacted like...banshees...and the teacher (a recent immigrant from Cuba....did too), I went and got the principal. Amazing when commando training will come in handy. I loved the Linda Blair thoughts...yeah...I could see that.

Clarisse Teagen said...

OH hahaha the poor gullible brother! This is something to be remembered for life :)