Many of you know that my daughter Alicia is epileptic and has significant struggles learning. She is however a great student with a positive attitude towards learning. She will sit patiently while you explain and show her how to complete a task and then she will adamantly push you away and begin the process of discovery on her own. In August Alicia underwent a procedure to install a Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS), much like a heart pacemaker, to help control her seizures. The action is simple enough; it fires a small current to an electrode wrapped around the Vagus nerve in her neck which in turn sort of resets an area of her brain that can trigger seizures. This is the ONLY thing that has caused a significant improvement in her condition in the last 7 years. It is not a cure and we are far from weaning her off medication but the initial results are amazing, it IS working as advertised, seizure activity is down.
What I didn’t expect only a month into the process was a return of the very inquisitive girl I used to know. Everyone with kids knows the drill. “What’s this?” “How’s that work?” “Why?” etc. We often lost that girl over the last few years between the seizures and the medications, and we missed her dearly. It seems that the VNS process is clearing her thought waves gradually and for a couple hours this Friday night I listened and answered questions without having to answer the same one twice or have her zone out and forget that she had asked a question. Her brother Chris is also noticing a gradual change and brightening to the point that he was getting frustrated lately by all the questions. So when she asked him “How come you know so much?” his reply was “You can learn almost anything on YouTube”.
There are two pre-teens in our house; the computers they use are in common areas so we can monitor the activity. On Friday night Alicia was at the Family room computer doing as her brother suggested, watching a YouTube video, I asked her what she was doing; here is how the conversation went….
“Whatcha doing Alicia?”
“Researching a career”
“Oh? What are the choices?”
“Well I’m watching two videos right now, Dog Training for Beginners and How to Hotwire a Car”
(At this point I hear Johanna choke on her tea, cough and start to laugh)
“I see” (I said without skipping a beat) “Does hotwiring cars interest you?”
“Yeah, I saw you do it once, at the grocery store for that lady”
“You mean Jump Starting?”
“Oh… well this is really interesting too, never know when you might need it!”
I couldn’t hold back any longer and burst out laughing! Ever so proud that she was thinking about a career and doing research! Her choices admittedly need a little direction hahaha but hey! who didn’t need a little help in that regard? (I’m still laughing as I write this).
We had the discussion about right and wrong and internet safety, you know “don’t try this at home etc.” But it was difficult to keep a straight face. A little later in the night as we sat on the front porch watching the world go by and answering Alicia’s questions I said to her “Welcome back, where have you been the last 5 years?”. She laughed this time and said “oh Dad, you only THINK you’re funny”. That’s my girl for sure 🙂
Hope you are having a great day, Johanna and I are confidentially here for you in all Real Estate transactions. The market is ‘co-operating’ right now with the right deals if you are interested in making a purchase or sale. Call us anytime at 778 549 7972 (Johanna’s Cel).
Clay Martin
