Day #9 - First Day of Full Stimulation

Note: In a way, this freaky but beautiful art looks like auras or visual seizures that I and many other people have.
Courtesy of Flickr.com by GThomasBower. "Floral Aura".

I woke up this morning, still feeling the sensation of having a marble inside my throat. I'm getting used to it but at times I could really do without my voice cracking up. I took a shower and as usual I began to sing, like most people do. I must have forgotten that with my VNS it is near impossible to successfully sing a song. You can sing fine for a good 12 seconds, but after that your voice either cracks or is gone completely when trying to sing. This saddened me because singing is something I absolutely love to do. My father has been a musician ever since I can remember, so singing comes natural to me. My spirits are a bit low today knowing that my beautiful voice is gone (ha ha), however that is not stopping me! I will still sing as much as I can!
So far I have only had 4 visual seizures, which is a record for me considering that it has now been a full day. I usually have anywhere from at least 20 to 100 visual seizures a day. If you're wondering what a visual seizure is, here's my crappy definition. A person who has visual seizures or "auras", as some physicians like to call them, will see colored spots, shapes, flashing lights, and other hallucinations projected in their vision. I have them on the far, upper right side of my vision which means that they are coming from my left side of my brain. I usually see weird things throughout the colored spots such as text, and images from my memory. It was very scary the first time that I experienced one of these. I thought I was going insane.


I posted this particular picture because this looks a lot like my auras from my perspective. You can vaguely see through your visual seizures as shown in this photo. The only difference is you would see some lines, shapes, or simple text like you are reading right now.
Courtesy of Flickr.com by GThomasBower. "Aura".

Seeing this change I am wondering if the VNS is having some sort of effect on me already, or if it is just one of those "good days" that I get every few months. Only time will tell. I haven't had a migraine yet which is great for me, and I had enough energy to sit through a three hour Physics class without yawning more than five times. However, I still feel a sense of exhaustion as usual.
The worst side effect that I have experienced today is shortness of breath. I can't even go up the stairs without having to stop and catch my breath for about five minutes. It is bothersome, so I am taking it very slow compared to being able to sprint around my home with no problem. Other than this one thing, my day has been pretty good. I still believe that it is too early to start noticing changes, but I will continue keeping note just in case my VNS device is really working some magic on me. It never hurts to keep notes.
I apologize but I am going to cut this blog short tonight because like I said, I am very exhausted. I still have a stack of homework for Algebra 2 that is almost an inch thick. I have spent this past year fully home-bound and being sick most of the time is making it hard to graduate, so I'm doing the best I can and giving it my all to try and make that happen.
If any of you readers have questions, comments, or suggestions for my blog, feel free to leave some feedback. It really let's me know what people are getting out of my blog and lets me know what other information I should be including. Have a good night and God bless you all!

With Love,
Amanda Krzywonski