My name is Araceli Lopez and my dad is Richard Lopez, and he has epilepsy. He’s had it for 29 years. He has the NeuroPace now, so it’s better.
Most of the time, when people say bad things about seizures it kind of makes me feel awkward sometimes. Like they don’t know my dad has seizures, so they wouldn’t understand what it’s like to have a parent or somebody who has seizures.
When I was small, I didn’t really know what epilepsy was. When he used to have seizures, I knew it was bad but I didn’t really think much of it. But as I got older, I started realizing that he was in pain.
When my dad has a seizure, it’s scary. You don’t know when it’s going to happen and sometimes they can last for a long time.
I could tell when he was stressed and if he felt a seizure coming on because he would just go in his room and sleep. At home most of the time he would be tired from taking his pills and stuff so we would just have to wait until he felt normal before we could spend any time with him.
Now that he has the RNS System, things are a lot better. I haven’t seen him have a seizure since he’s gotten it.
It’s impacted the whole family because we don’t worry as much about if my dad’s going to have a seizure and there’s a lot of hope about the future.
I feel hopeful like it’s going to work and you know, he’s not going to have any other ones.
I spend more time with my dad than I did before, I mean, I’d see him all the time, but now it’s better because he’s also more alert during the time we spend together.
Published on: November 9, 2014
This represents the experience of individual(s) who have used the RNS System. Individual results will vary.
