I chose that point to stop, because that is where the trouble really begins. The doctors believed that I was having seizures, and put me on Valproic Acid. I thought everything was fine, and went back to work for Wal-Mart. But it was a short lived hope. Approximately six months after going back to work, I had a real bad one just before I was to clock in and begin my shift one night. This happened in September of 2007. The store manager witnessed it, and sent me home. My parents were very concerned, so they took me to the emergency room. The ER doctors were unable to do anything for me, so they sent me home to recuperate. I suffered partial, and permanent paralysis on my right leg and part way up my abdomen with that one. Needless to say, it incapacitated me, and I was unable to return to work in a timely manner. The store manager had me fill out a leave of absence form, and requested a doctors release before returning to work. My next trip to the clinic to see the doctor was not a good one. The doctor refused to sign a release to allow me to return to work because he didn't know what was triggering these, and wanted to get them under control before doing so. Needless to say, it hasn't happened yet. Doctors changed my medication to Dilantin, hoping that it would be more effective in controlling the seizures. No change as of yet. In December, the letters began arriving from the Child Support Enforcement Office. In January, on the advice of the doctors at the clinic, I filed for Social Security. In March, I was summoned to appear in court for back child support. The Judge required me to seek legal counsel with my pending Social Security application, so in June I found a Lawyer that would take my case without having a denial from Social Security. In July, I received my first denial letter from the Social Security office. By this point, the stress of all of this had begun to wear me down some, so I found a mental health office that would allow me to see a councilor without having to have money or insurance. Not too sure that it's doing any good at this point.

Okay, now that the reader has been filled in on the background of this, lets get to some of the specifics. When these "seizures" began, they were occurring at intervals of about four to six months. I say it that way, because I am not entirely convinced that these are seizures. I am not a doctor, so I really don't know, but, both of my grandfathers died from complications related to strokes. In comparison to what I saw both of them suffer through, this is what I believe these things to be. At this point, I'm having them approximately ten to twelve times a week. The latest denial letter I have received from Social Security says that: "Your seizures could be controlled with regular treatment." The frustration I feel is almost beyond belief with government bureaucracy at this point. If they were under control, I would have already returned to work. At any rate, I was informed by the court liaison for child support that I should still expect another year before getting any results from Social Security. These things cause my vision to "grey out", not exactly a black out, but close. They cause extreme dizziness, and sometimes sweating along with nausea. Due to the dizziness, I stopped driving for fear of having an accident if one occurred while in control of a vehicle. For those of you who may be wondering, my parents have been paying my utilities, and furnishing taxi service for me. The problem with that is, my fathers car broke down a couple of weeks ago, and they were already in financial trouble before any of this began with me. So now I have become an extreme burden to my parents as well as not being able to pay my own bills. This is not to mention the back child support that is still accumulating, which is now at around four thousand dollars and climbing. The Prosecutor for Child Support says that it's an automatic felony charge if it reaches five thousand dollars. Just one more thing before I end this entry. The doctors have refused to do any more testing on me until I have had a consultation with a neurologist, and they don't have a neurologist on staff with the free clinic.

So, that about sums it up. I'm sure there will be more to come at a later point in time.