Matt's Health Update

About a month ago we had put Graham to bed and Matt was in the garage cleaning a gun and I was in the living room watching tv. I heard a funny noise, like a loud groan and then a crash. I went running to the garage and found Matt on the floor convulsing. I put something soft under his head and ran back in the house for the phone to call 911. I was concerned that he might have hit his head on the concrete but I didn't see any blood. He convulsed for several minutes and then passed out. He was just starting to come to when the firemen arrived at the door. Matt was quite disoriented and I was trying to convince him not to try and get up. I had to contain the dog and let the firemen in. Then Matt threw up. Eventually they got him up and in the house. He was still quite disoriented as they took him out to the ambulance, not answering simple questions correctly.

I called Matt's Aunt Kathy to come stay with Graham at the house. My neighbor called to see what was going on and she offered to come over until Kathy could arrive. So I gathered a few things and headed to the hospital. Matt was back to himself by the time he got to the hospital and we waited for a couple hours to see a doctor at the ER. (Side note: everybody thought I was in labor when I came waddling into the ER! Ha.) Eventually they gave him some Kepra (a seizure medicine he takes regularly) to prevent another seizure and sent us home.

Matt already had a neurology appointment scheduled for the next day. The neurologist decided to start Matt on an additional medicine. By being on two different medicines at low doses, he may avoid any serious side effects from either. Matt has been on the full dosage of the new medicine for a couple weeks now but continues to have mini episodes where he loses his concentration. The neurologist told us that our goal is to end these episodes and then we can be more confident that he will not have any more grand mal seizures. Matt had another EEG and has MRI scheduled for the last week in September, 6 months from the previous one. At this time there is no known cause for the seizures, the doctors are just trying to treat them with medication.

So Matt still isn't driving and plans to contact the neurologist this week to discuss the next treatment steps. Having the second grand mal seizure made us realize that this wasn't a fluke and that there is really something serious going on. This has been difficult to accept, especially since there are so many unknowns. With me on bed rest and Matt not driving we are basically shut-ins at age 29 (ha!). But we are so thankful for family and friends who are helping us and supporting us. Please pray that we will get Matt's seizures under control with medicine. Also pray for humility and grace as we have to rely on others so heavily for daily life right now.

After Matt's neurology appointment we went by Krispy Kreme for a treat. Graham was not a fan of the hat nor the doughnuts. Crazy kid.