Sleep.

I wanted to blog about how getting enough sleep helps prevent my seizures & helps my brain recover..

My epilepsy nurse (who discharged me the other day!!) encourages sleep for obvious reasons..

Getting enough sleep helps. Fatigue gets better so falling asleep voluntarily can be difficult.
*is my brain tired or is it fatigue?*

My beautiful brain
Sleeping to recover.

My stroke of courage.

I always get comments like - "you're so brave" and when I reflect on my recovery it does take a lot of courage..

Sometimes I find myself letting go of my arm & holding my head high enough for my walking to seem strong..

"You can't even tell"
People will say anything to make your confidence stronger, it does help but can get annoying.

I'm capable of everything those without a disability can do,  just a bit slower & with courage.

My beautiful brain
Brave, strong & recovering
'Since 2014'

A lost brain.

I didnt know what to title this post but im writing about my memory improving..

People still ask "do you remember?" & remind me of certain events..

My memory is slowly but surely coming back,
I used to only remember bad memories:
Lost friends
The stroke
Things that should be forgotten..

But my memory is fine,

My beautiful brain
Yes I do remember, dont remind me of a bad memory..

Living with epilepsy.

"I thought you were dancing, cutting some shapes!"
"You poor thing it must be awful"
"You should be careful next time, its not nice to witness!"
"Oo you scared me, I had no idea what to do"

Just a few comments from witnesses of my worse kind of seizure - *grand mal*

Epilepsy isnt a choice you make infact if I could I'd only live with my disability & cure the epilepsy..

Its difficult to trust people you're with due to anxiety -
"Will they know how to help me?"
But telling people scares them away -
"I do have epilepsy, but its controlled!"
A look of worry from my recent job interview..

The feeling after is exhaustion, stress, pain & the feeling of dissapointment.
*Bloody hell, now everyone will assume I've not controlled my brain*

You get scared but I get hurt.

My beautiful brain
Dealing with epilepsy.

Learning to swim..

As we made friends and the pool had a slope to walk into, I decided "Im gonna do this".

Naomi and Liam held my arm as I took a slow walk into the pool, I had to wear my splint and shoes so my feet were stable.

But - I got into a swimming pool, bobbing along and going under water..

My beautiful brain
Exhausted from training my brain.

Balance

Something I haven't written about for a while is my balance.

I still wear an AFO but; standing walking and climbing is so much easier, I've taught myself how to use a new cardio machine at the gym which allows me to bend my left knee and balance when coming on and off the machine.

My beautiful brain
Balancing.

Don't define me.

At first it was all about my stroke
 -  being on the radio and so on..

I found that as a young person it made me self centred meaning I lost the people I called friends..

It sets you back, it makes you more upset as you focus only on the 'bad times'

My beautiful brain
No longer labelling myself.