Sound Short #3 with details

In 2014, when the person was in 7th grade, their life changed dramatically. They went to the orthodontist and everything seemed fine until they got a headache. Their mom noticed strange behavior, like blacking out and twitching eyebrows. Their dad suggested going to the emergency room, where they sat for hours before being checked. They had a seizure and were diagnosed with epilepsy. Their life changed as they had to be more careful with their sleep, medicine, and menstrual cycles. They worry about having seizures and how others perceive them. Despite the condition, they have lived a relatively normal life. 10 years later, they still remember those few hours and how frightening they were. Have you ever had your life change in the span of a few hours? Well, I have. In 2014, I was in the 7th grade and it was the spring. I thought it was a normal day going to the orthodontist after school in middle school, but it quickly changed. I went to my orthodontist appointment, everything was fine after I had gotten my braces off and I was ready to get them checked out and leave early. I got a headache and I just thought it was a normal headache, but when I got in the car, I thought my mom started asking questions and things started to get suspicious. We picked up my brother from preschool, since we have a 9 year age gap, he was in preschool and I was in middle school. She comes back from picking him up and it got worse. In her words to me, since I don't remember a lot of this story, a lot of this was told to me second hand. I would black out, not answer, stare off, my eyebrows would start twitching, all those scary warning signs that a mother could see in her child. I kept saying I was fine, I was just saying that I was tired from the day, because that's what I really thought was happening. Again, I was very, very wrong. It continued once my dad got home from work. He saw the same thing. He's not a worrier, so I got very scared when he was the one that suggested that we need to go to the emergency room and see what was going on with me. So we hopped in the car, dropped my brother off with the neighbors, and rushed to the emergency room, where we sat for hours and hours and hours with nobody checking me out. It kept getting worse, so they demanded at the counter that somebody check me out. This is where things go downhill very fast. They asked me all the things, like the president, the birthday, where I lived, all the things that I know, and then we got to the date. I said it was May, and the month was March, and that's when they knew something was very, very wrong. They set me up for a CT scan and an x-ray, but I can't remember which one because I fell into an epileptic seizure after they took my earrings out. I was still in my middle school uniform, and I woke up with both parents on the side of the hospital bed crying, saying I had a seizure. I had different clothes on, a new blanket my mom had got me, and I began to be transported to a bigger hospital, where all of the tests began. I had four EEGs, x-rays, and MRIs. I had CT scans the whole nine yards. I was diagnosed with epilepsy, and from then on, my life changed. I had to be more conscious of my sleep schedule, being responsible with my medicine, and even controlling my menstrual cycles, because later we found out that was the cause. A hormone imbalance in my brain caused me to fall into an epileptic seizure. I have been living with this for 10 years, and I think about it every single day. I have to remember to take my medicine twice a day, and I worry that if I do not, I will have a seizure. I have coped and grown, but the condition remains. Even with a control disorder, it still worries me. When I put on a job application, a new friend group, a new boyfriend, when I tell them I have epilepsy, I fear that they will see me differently or capable of doing things, even though I have lived a relatively normal life with going to college, driving a car, living alone, and being able to go out drinking with adults. So yes, my life has changed in a matter of a few hours, and 10 years later, I still think about those few hours and how scary and life-altering they were.