We Deal With Stress Differently

I realized that yesterday. My husband and I are dealing with the news of the epilepsy diagnosis differently. I'm conscious of how I'm dealing with it. I'm trying to hit it head on. Anticipating various scenarios and putting plans of action into place to deal with them. Sometimes, I feel like the warrior mom, standing with sword drawn, and shield in place to protect my girl from this disorder I can't see, but I know is there. Acceptance wasn't an issue, I accepted, then went into fight mode. My plan is to do everything I can to keep her safe, then let go and leave it up to God to step in where I can't, and my energy has been focused there, that's how I'm dealing with the stress and the news. It's not a perfect solution, however. Lack of sleep and added stress is not good for the memory, I totally flaked on a child's parent teacher conference yesterday, and feel horrible about it. I've left a message, profusely appologizing for my lightmindedness. It took a while for me to realize though, that my husband isn't going to deal with things the same way. It seems to me, that to him, it's not big deal, and at first that irritated me. But as I've watched him, as I've looked back on this past week, I can see that my dear husband has been more stressed than usual. He's dealing with it, it's just being channeled differently. I realized last night, that I need to cut him some slack, we're different people, and we'll deal with things differently. Just because it's different, doesn't mean it's not right. It works for him, even if it annoys me sometimes. I'm sure my way annoys him at times too. I think dealing with stress can be hard for a couple, and if we're not careful, if we're not understanding and forgiving, then we make it that much harder on ourselves. We have enough stress right now, why add to it?

We Can't Make it Go Away, So We'll Make it Fun

That's the outlook today on Alta's diagnosis. I am not physically capable of taking this affliction away from my daughter. If I could, I would. I also know that if God wanted her healed, He would. Our prayers would have been answered that way. I don't blame Him for this at all. It's something that will teach us, something that will help us grow, maybe bring us closer together, increase our patience and understanding of those around us. There are numerous GOOD things that can come from this. It's not a death sentence, merely an inconvenience. For that, I am grateful. That doesn't mean there won't be some suckiness that comes along though. So, we're going to do our best to balance the two. First, for safety, a medical ID bracelet. For those times we're not around. But cute, not sterile, severe looking. Something that's fun to wear, but useful at the same time. I'm working with a friend on it. For peace of mind: looking into little dogs, whose sole purpose is to attach itself to my girl, and bark its head off if she has a seizure. He will be her assistance dog, and will hopefully help the rest of us sleep better. I don't expect he'll bark if she's just turning over, but if she does something weird or alarming, then maybe he'll bark. Although the baby monitor is helpful, the times it wakes me up unnecessarily are too ginormous to count. I really would like to feel comfortable sleeping again. Heck, so would Emma. For Fun: Emma has decided to retire Concussion Girl, but Alta has chosen to keep Seizure Girl going strong. That' what she wants to be for Halloween :) So, I've got to come up with a costume design or something for her. We're also thinking about making a comic book for her this summer. She can come up with Seizure Girl adventures and we'll write them out, add some illustrations, that sort of thing. We've talked about giving a quick presentation to her new class in the fall, of what epilepsy is and isn't, and what they can expect, and what they can do. I don't want her whole class wigged out if she does have a seizure. I'm selfish, I want the teacher's attention focused on my girl. The better prepared her class mates are as far as what to expect, the better. We may use the comic we make over the summer for this. So, that's the game plan so far. I can't make it go away, but I can make it fun may be my motto for a while.

Our Way of Dealing with Stress

The girls and I have decided they need super hero names. Emma is (drum roll, please) Concussion Girl, which leaves Alta only one possibility; Seizure Girl. I've talked to them, and they're in complete agreement. So far, we've got a couple super hero powers for each girl. Concussion Girl can confuse her enemies, make them forget where they are and what they're doing, or even knock them out with one thought. On a good day, she can make them forget who they are, thus stopping bad behavior. Seizure Girl can make the ground under the enemy quake. She silences her enemies by immobilizing their tongues. It's a great interrogation technique. She can ask questions, and they can nod yes or no. She also has the ability to bring unconsciousness on with a thought. Help us out, what other super-hero powers can we give these two?