Hospital, Thunderstorm And Cats

 We managed to get Hannah to the hospital yesterday.

I wasn't impressed with the doctor; I think he had some sort of problem. Most of the time, I can understand most of what a person is saying, but with this doctor, I couldn't catch anything. Fortunately, Hannah had done a lot of research into different types of seizures.  She asked if she had functional seizures, the doctor said he couldn't give a definite diagnosis because the 2nd episode happened on Friday, but from what he was seeing, it's a possibility. 

When we came back, we talked for a while about what she should do. These seizures have more to do with the mind, the emotions we are feeling, and less to do with the physical brain. In my understanding, epilepsy happens when the brain's electrical system misfires. With functional seizures, it is more to do with the mind shutting down because it can't cope with the environment. In Hannah's case, it happens when she is overwhelmed with stress, exhaustion, and the heat. Both times she's had these seizures were because she had too much on her plate!

So she is going to see if she can get counseling at the university. Also, she is going to find a local hospital that she can go to if this happens again. I've offered to go and stay with her during times of high stress, like tests or when she is doing her teacher training. She will make a note with her name and address on it, and what to do if she has another episode. She said the scary part was sitting in the dark, not knowing who she was, where she was, and what she had done that day!

I hope that by having that plan in place, she can be confident to go back next week!

We spent the morning at the hospital. Came back, had lunch, picked up materials for our lessons, and headed back to the other city! 

Just before we left, it started to rain. Not a gentle summer rain but a real heavy downpour accompanied by thunder.

I took a little video of the rain, usually you can see the mountains, but the rain was so heavy and the clouds so low that visibility was very poor!

Rather intense driving!

The poor cats weren't happy with the thunder.  They all found hiding places.

Difficult to see, but that is Fluffy hiding. 

Also, I managed to take a photo of the Tanabata decorations at the community center where we teach.

Tanabata decorations in the entrance of the community center