Volunteers offer critical support and hope to patients at Calgary’s Seizure Monitoring Unit
CTV
Epileptic patients in the Seizure Monitoring Unit (SMU) at the Foothills Medical Centre regularly spend days in isolation as doctors monitor their symptoms, but volunteers are stepping up to provide companionship and critical support when it’s needed most.
Epileptic patients in the Seizure Monitoring Unit (SMU) at the Foothills Medical Centre regularly spend days in isolation as doctors monitor their symptoms, but volunteers are stepping up to provide companionship and critical support when it’s needed most.
The SMU is a clinical space with four treatment beds where the brain waves of patients are constantly monitored and they’re induced into having a seizure to find out more information about their condition.
“The days are long sitting in a unit, waiting to have a seizure. I was in a dark room by myself thinking about maybe having brain surgery, so my mind went to some dark places,” said Derek Payne.
“Normally, when you have epilepsy, you're hoping not to have a seizure, so sitting in a bed hoping to have one is strange. Hoping that the results of that seizure come back and that you can be one of the lucky ones and be a candidate for brain surgery is even stranger.”
Payne was diagnosed with epilepsy in 1999 and had what he called ‘minor episodes’ for the first decade, but his symptoms soon progressed to the point where he was having several seizures where he lost consciousness or awareness.
He was admitted to the SMU for two weeks to determine if he was a candidate for brain surgery and underwent a successful operation in 2015.
Just one day before Payne’s operation he had six seizures, but following his procedure he hasn’t had one since.
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