The Morning After

The sun is shining brightly through the windows and Toren has just had a thorough neuro check... the doc found no obvious losses from this seizure. Wow!! He had a hearty breakfast, having missed dinner last night, except of course the 2:30am munching on part of the dinner he missed. Understandably Toren is very tired, 2-3 minutes of seizing is very high energy drain, however he is also alert and aware. He is so pleased to have finally had a seizure, and to have come out of it so well. The doctors will round later this morning so we will be able to understand more about the nature of his seizures and how to respond.

For now Toren is happy to simply rest quietly and feel the relief of making it through. In the wee hours of the night when he really came round he still a little confused, but when he was told he had a seizure, he said "finally - success" ... and then immediately asked did enough get captured on the equipment. He is presently on a portable monitor, so yesterday afternoon when he was very perky and high energy Toren really enjoyed showing David how his actions were reflected on the screen... by meditating and closing his eyes, and then by thinking scary thoughts, and then of course being such a boy, thinking other thoughts - those ones have the most dramatic shift in the pattern of the brain waves... what a surprise!!

I slept here last night... meaning I dozed in every hour for some of the hour... but I feel okay, apart from the gritty-eye sensation. I am watching him like a hawk, just in case another seizure is lurking. I am both anxious and keen to hear what the doctors have to gleaned. When the tech came in to fine-tune the reception from his electrodes this morning, he said "well now you can go home." Toren responded, "I didn't come here to go home, I came here to fix this!!" Toren has been a well balanced mix of patient and determined, and I couldn't be more proud of the way he has handled himself this past fortnight. I didn't know my grandmothers - but my father often quoted his mother as saying "Anyone can be a mentsh in good times, but can you be a mentsh in tsuris." By that measure, and many others this man, is a mentsh.

Each day he remembers to ask about those he loves, and knows, he is concerned about Lindsey his newest friend sharing this journey, about Josh who is up on the 9th floor recovering from brain surgery, and about Sarah who just had surgery yesterday. All these fine young people with serious challenges, they are truly inspirational. Heightening for me the need to count blessings, and ride the waves that life presents... challenges are truly opportunities once we stop resisting. May the way you meet today's challenges open up your hearts.