June 30th 2023. 810 days after the first seizure event.
My good progress continues.
Written in the tranquil settings of Neo Chorio, Cyprus. Yes, it is true, Cyprus has been a place we have frequently visited. My first visit was in 1983. Much has changed over this period, but parts remain constant.
June came around again and on my birthday mother nature gave me a reminder.
Another burst ear drum.
It would seem that my cochlear and its little defect wanted to let me know again of its presence. It is likely that the fluid outside of my cochlear built up and well, the easiest option was for the ear drum to burst. Personally I am okay with this as one of the alternatives would be a mastoid infection and frankly been there and it is not pleasant.
I had the good fortune earlier this week, to visit the Pomos vantage point once again and to reflect upon my progress. I wrote the piece below, shown in italics, in September 22 and here is an update to this.
At T + 810 days (t=onset) I remain at the magic number of 0, null points, zip – all types of seizure for > 186 days.
- last physical seizure > 484 days ago
- last drop attack > 186 days ago
- last absence seizure > 192 days ago
- last tonic seizure > 235 days ago
There is always sunshine after the rain.
A year ago (September 21), we went to Cyprus on holiday which allowed me to compare, contrast and to start to understand my absence seizures. They were the most difficult to ‘understand’ their onset process and to get to grips with, leading to being able to diminish them.
Whilst there, we stopped one day at a vista overlooking the bay at Pomos. There is a small cafe just set back from the road. At the service desk, low tech yet functional, I asked for a diet coke for Miranda and a bottle of water for myself. The kind lady who I had never met before, passed to me the two bottles and commented ‘You look tired’.
I did. I sat down and had back-to-back absence seizures. Their duration was just over half an hour. My neural network had entered that weird and wonderful world of being both sub-conscious and yet conscious simultaneously.
The state I call ‘the cat’ after Schrödinger’s famous description of the quantum thought experiment.
Run forward one year to September 2022. I am returning to Cyprus in a few days’ time. It will be the second time this year.
My plan is to once again go the vista at Pomos. To seek out this kind lady and ask her opinion of my health.
I think that she will be pleasantly surprised.
Thank you for reading my story. I find my functional seizures fascinating and for me they continue to be a great science project for me to get my teeth into. As ever I remain very positive.
To experience is to live, and that is our purpose, whilst we await for our telomeres to finally unravel, and we depart this oasis which sits in the vastness of the universe.