Cool to Confused in Seconds
Zeke Chisholm sat at the back of the room, his red and white cap on his head, the peak covering the back of his neck. His white t-shirt tight to his youthful body, a denim shirt open with sleeves loosely rolled up, blue jeans with just the right touch of crumpled neatness. Slouching just enough in his chair so he looked relaxed and cool, but not so much that the teacher would tell him to ‘Sit up straight, Ezekiel!’ Mrs. Lannigan was pretty old school and if she was in a bad mood, she made Zeke take his cap completely off. She didn’t like earrings, for guys anyway, or any kind of piercings for that matter. Although she didn’t know about the ones hidden behind t-shirts and below waistbands.
Zeke had had a slower morning than usual. It was Monday morning. Saturday night had really been fun, not that he remembered much about it. He thought he had, but wasn’t really that clear. Stuff was kind of hazy. Sunday had been kind of blurry too. He didn’t do anything about it except sleep more. His parents put it down to teenage laziness and he was almost convinced they were right. Except for the feeling in his arms and legs. He was supposed to play some b-ball with his buddies but called it off.
Zeke’s eyes roamed the room, looking for Lacey Sarino. Saturday night had really been good. Looking at Lacey, Mrs. Lannigan’s voice seemed far away, kind of like in a tunnel. His eye lids were twitching like they did some time just before he went to sleep. Weird.
WTF! Why is my tongue so sore?! Mom called me for breakfast. Better get moving. I’ll be late for school. I promised Lacey I’d walk her to school today............WTF - Where am I? What am I doing on a bare floor!? My room at least has an old carpet! Damn, my head hurts.
“Ezekiel, wake up~ you fell out of your desk. The school nurse is here.”
“Why? The school nurse is only called in an emergnecy and I’m not at school yet. What are you doing here Mrs. Lannigan? Are you mad at me again?”
Zeke opened his eyes and saw a circle of faces staring down at him. Lacey with her long blond hair was crying, mascara tracing black wavery lines down her cheeks. What’s wrong with everyone? Why are they all staring at me? WTF! My pants are wet! I bet those jerks poured water on me and are having a good laugh. I wonder who needs the ambulance?
Zeke slipped back to sleep. When he woke up again, there was a mattress under him. His classmates faces had been replaced by white curtains. He could hear voices outside. Now where am I? What’s going on!? I’m supposed to walk Lacey to school.
A tall man Zeke had never seen pushed open the curtains. “Hey Zeke, how’re you feeling now? You gave everyone a nasty scare. Is this your first seizure or have you had others?”
"Lacey? Is that your girlfriend. She’s in the waiting room with your mom and the school nurse. She insisted on coming with you. But let’s get back to why you’re in Emergency. I want to get you out of here as fast as you do, but I have to find out what caused your seizure. Guys like you don’t just have a tonic-clonic seizure in class for fun!”
Zeke was stunned into unusual silence.
“I’ve called a neurologist and ordered an EEG - that’s an electro encephalogram - to see what your brain has to tell us. This might have been a ‘one of’ fluke just like you said earlier - or it might be something else.”
“Like what?”
“Like epilepsy.”
“Hold on! Hold on! One step at a time. Let’s get a diagnosis first and then see what needs to happen. I want you to see the neurologist who’ll give you the goods. We don’t know that it is epilepsy yet.”
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