Written By: Debjani Arora | Updated : December 8, 2015 6:02 PM IST
When I first met Ketki and Kedar Vaidya at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, they seemed just like any other couple to me together, going strong. It was only when Ketki narrated her story I did realise that behind that innocent smile, lies a courageous woman who braved the demons of epilepsy. Here is her story in her own words.
If I have to go into flashback, I will say that the year 2007 will be marked as the black year of my life. Prior to that, life was all happy and merry, barring the little ups and downs. But on 5th July, 2007, life took a total 360-degree turn. On that particular day, my entire family gathered at my maternal home. My mother-in-law, husband, daughter, sisters and other well-wishers were all there. I joined them after my usual grocery shopping. We were having a good time over cups of tea, when my mobile phone rang. I remember answering the call, but later I found myself lying in a hospital bed, with my family at my side. My daughter, Chaitrali was just three years old at that time. I could hardly make any sense of the situation and felt spaced out. Here are some of the myths related to epilepsy that you need to know.
My husband then told me that I fell unconscious while speaking over the phone. A series of tests were done and the reports said that I had a problem in my brain epilepsy, a condition associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain. This usually leads to convulsions, seizures, sensory disturbance and loss of consciousness. But the question was why did it happen so late? Isn t epilepsy something one experiences right since their childhood? The answer is no, this can happen anytime and it was happening to me, it was all very real. If you have an epileptic person in your family here are 13 things you need to know.
The Dark Days
I am the youngest of my three siblings and was always afraid of committing mistakes. If I ever made any minute mistake in studies or in kitchen, I would panic, shout, run around the house, feeling strange or have a sense of d j vu, with some stiffness in my limbs. I could never confide about these things to anyone and people thought I will grow out of it with time. But I realised that those were the partial seizures (as explained by the doctor later) that were subtly indicative about this condition. Here are some new methods that help to detect epilepsy early in kids.
However, that was the past. After the recent episode, I was referred to Dr Jayanti Mani, neurologist, practising at Wordhardt Hospitals, Mulund. I was prescribed medication to avoid any further episodes of convulsion and fits. However, with a condition like this, it is difficult to avoid fits altogether. Except for my immediate family members, I kept it a secret from everyone else, even my employers.
I took my medications and kept reporting to work as usual. I had to visit Delhi over some work with a colleague that made me panic. So my 
husband confided about my condition to him and asked him to take care of me. Luckily, those four days just passed without any untoward episode. But the day after I reached Mumbai and reported to work all, my efforts of keeping epilepsy under the carpet went for a toss. I got a fit sometime just after lunch, I realised that when I came back to my senses and found that I was lying in my boss s cabin and my husband was there with me. I instantly asked, Did I get a fit? He nodded. He took me back home in a cab where I kept on throwing up. I took a leave from work for two days and then reported back to work. Unfortunately, even before I could resume my day s job, my boss calmly asked me to resign. I cried, sobbed, begged but nothing helped. So I quit. This episode made me depressed and I almost lost my self-confidence. I went into a shell where medications were my only hope for survival. There came a time when I was scared to take sleeping pills, which is prescribed to epilepsy patients, as I feared that I would never come to my senses and might die silently. Thankfully that never happened. Here are some expert views on prevention of the seizures.
Ray of hope
To pull me out of my depression my sister advised me to talk to a psychiatrist and told me to see Dr Anand Nadkarni, Institute for Psychological Health, Thane. There, in a 21 days program I opened my heart out to one of his assistants Yashoda, who helped me get back to life and regain my self-confidence. I took a second job and was on medications; again I kept my condition a secret. Meanwhile, I lost track of Dr Mani who wasn t attached to Workhardt anymore. The other doctor who I consulted changed some of my medications which made my condition worse. In the past, Dr Mani did recommend me a brain surgery to bring epilepsy under control. But I wasn t brave enough to go under the knife and so I preferred to be on medication. My doses increased and my condition deteriorated. My episodes of fits increased with time. During one night in the year 2009, I got seven fits in a row and my husband got my family to be at my side as he didn t know what exactly to do. My little girl was also scared. Since, then fits became a regular affair. Here are few such incidences:
With these incidents, my husband started fearing that I might hurt myself during one of these episodes and he was in search of a better treatment for me. That is how we went back to Dr Mani, who was now practising at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. When she met me, she was shocked to see me. With the new medications, et al, I went from a slender 55 kg to 80 kg. However, the doses were all corrected and I felt like normalcy was restored. But it was not. The episodes were still repeated and in April 2015 I had a fit at home when no one was around. That incident particularly scared my husband. The following month when I went to meet Dr Mani, my husband took a call and asked her to operate me and put an end to these fits. I wasn t able to accept that decision but he was adamant. Next, things just went with a flow Psychoanalysis test, video EEG, MRI and within 15 days I was wheeled to the OT where Dr Jayanti Mani, along with her associates, performed the surgery. It s been six months now that I have been healthy.
Life thereafter
I feel like a reformed person today, more confident and ready to take on the challenges ahead. But there are a few things that I will definitely hold against the higher power. While all the problems I was going through, my daughter had to bear the brunt of it. She handled everything very maturely. It happens with people whose mothers are fighting a demon within. There used to be times when she used to get scared, worry about me constantly. Imagine for a child to know that her mother can pass out anytime -- what kind of psychological pressure it had been! But she braved it all, my little girl kept a track of my medications so I don t fall ill. My parents had always been by my side throughout these years, my daughter started spending quality time with them more while I recovered from the shocks of the seizures. Now probably is the time to give her back the security that she needs from a mother. I hope my brain now behaves and lets me live a life that I deserve. Most of all, my husband has been my rock. He held me together through this all and has been very patient, loving and caring.
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