• Changing lives one seizure response dog at a time

  • International Epilepsy Awareness – Day One

    Kathryn Losea

    Meet Kathryn.

    1. What is your connection to epilepsy /seizures? I have been having seizures for about 15 years. They were first noticed after I had a head injury. (I passed out and hit my head on concrete after a bad reaction to a medication.) I knew something was wrong and something was happening, but didn’t know what. It wasn’t until someone saw me having a seizure about 2 weeks later that I found out I washaving seizures. I was having tonic clonic mostly at that time. I was attending college and living in the dorms.

    2. Tell us a little about your journey. I guess I kind of started this in the last one. While still at school, I was told that since I was in the dorm I was a liability and would have to leave. My parents and I fought this. I had a year and a half left. I lost my ability to drive, so living on campus was a must. (I was going to school out of State). I worked hard, and finished my degree a semester early with a 3.98 gpa.
    My seizures were really bad. The neurologist I was seeing had me on 3 different meds. He told my mom to call him every time I had a seizure. There was a time where I was so medicated, I was pretty much a zombie. All I did was sleep and have seizures. Then came the day I had two grand mal seizures, stopped breathing, once in the ambulance, and once at the hospital. They did a lot of tests, blood work etc… found out I had toxic levels of seizure meds in my blood. The neurologist I was seeing would just order another med, or increase the meds whenever I had a seizure. He never did a blood test in three years… Needless to say I got a new neurologist. My new neurologist is wonderful. He got me on the right meds, the seizures have pretty much settled down. Although I did end up losing my job due to my Epilepsy. I was once again told I was a liability. My neurologist I have now fought for me, but the school district I worked for won that one.

    3. What is a typical day like for you. A typical day for me is going to some Dr. apt. or working on a sketch. I also spend time on face book looking at pictures and videos of my great nieces and nephews. (They are my life) smile emoticon As none of them live real close, face book lets me keep up with how they are growing. If I have had a seizure, my day consists of a lot of sleeping.

    4. What support do you have.. I have the support of my dear friend, Julie Hutchison, my sister and niece. My mom and a few other friends. But for the most part, I feel pretty alone in this.

    5. What do you want others to know… Hmmm… That’s a hard one.. in reality, I would like others to know what it’s like to live with this on a daily basis.. to know the looks you get, the friendships lost, the jobs lost, everything else you lose… Yet, I would not wish this on anyone… I would like others to know that I am not a liability… I am very intelligent, talented and funny…

    6. What has or would make a difference to you. . I think the way society views epilepsy would make a huge difference to me. We need more awareness and research.