ABU DHABI // Medication and surgery have changed the life of a woman who suffered more than 20 years of recurring epileptic seizures.
“I can’t go near a kitchen yet, but I’m doing everything else,” said A T, 30, an Emirati.
She has lived with epilepsy for as long as she can remember.
“When I was young I had a seizure when I was near a hot stove. I fell on top of it and burnt myself.”
Before beginning a course of medication, the woman suffered a seizures every few hours.
Drugs reduced that to about once a month, and she turned to surgery to see if she could reduce them further.
She flew to Minnesota in the US, where she spent three months in hospital, and underwent a five-hour operation in February last year.
Her recovery was not difficult, even though a part of the left side of her brain – which is responsible for memory – was removed.
“I didn’t feel like I was in a lot of pain. I was just happy that the seizures would stop.”
Doctors “were very careful that my memory was not affected, and it wasn’t.
“I’m now going to Quran memorisation classes”.
A T is still on medication but she has not had a single seizure since the operation.
One of her cousins also has epilepsy. “My auntie’s son is like me and I’m encouraging them to send him abroad for the operation. I think everyone like us should do it.”
Her condition held her back from living a normal life. “I was too scared to apply for a job but now I can.”
It also meant she was not allowed to drive, but now she has plans to go to learn.
“I can do anything now like everybody else.”
salnuwais@thenational.ae
