Who we are

Weslee goes into the hospital tomorrow for a SEEG surgery.  What is it?

Stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) is an invasive surgical procedure that is used to identify areas of the brain where epileptic seizures originate. During SEEG, doctors place electrodes in targeted brain areas, which are then monitored to precisely locate the seizure source.  (Source: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/17457-seeg-test)

A little background: started in 2006, 2007 ... somewhere around there, my son Weslee started having a lot of deja vu episodes.  Like... a LOT!  I began to mention it to his doctors, but they all brushed it off as nothing.  It wasn't until March 2011 when he had his first Tonic Clonic (grand mal) seizure that people started taking me seriously.   Oh, and the deja vu episodes were really simple partial seizures. 

Soon after his first Tonic Clonic, he developed two more kinds of seizures, for a total of four. Not a day went by that he did NOT have a seizure. Even going to a restaurant or to the library would bring them on.

After trying many different kinds of medications, several tests, EEGs done at the local Children's Hospital, it was decided to try surgery.  He did well with the two-step surgery, reducing his seizures greatly.

He could live his life again, but when I (his mom) was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016, Weslee's seizures returned, hard and fast. Stress about the possibility of losing me did that.  I moved Weslee and I away from Colorado in 2017, back to where I grew up, in Louisville, KY, leaving my husband behind.  (I needed us to be nearer to people who actually cared about us. My husband of ten years couldn't and wouldn't.)

We found a new epileptologist (neurologist that specializes in epilepsy and seizures), and ran more tests ... EEG in EMU, 3T-MRI, etc. We brought in a neuro-surgeon, and as a group, with input from other doctors, decided to do this SEEG surgery.

That brings us to today.

Weslee's not really nervous but I am. I vividly remember his previous brain surgeries, and even though this one is supposed to be less invasive than the two-step he had done in 2013, there are still risks.  But ... I make myself put on a great and calm face.

This blog will hopefully keep a record of how the surgery goes, and life with epilepsy.

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(For more in-depth details about our story, please read my book, "Epilepsy - One Mother's Perspective".)

Kindle / e-book version: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PWGR8M8

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1885615221