Heather Day 3

Oldest sisters are sometimes protective of their younger siblings. This has probably been more true for me with Heather than anybody else. Heather is epileptic, you see. This is something you may not know because she controls it with medicine. One thing, aside from missing her schedule medications, can really give her trouble. Missing sleep. Once when we were both single and living in Provo, Heather and I were home in Boise visiting our parents. Heather's medicine was a little off track, her sleep was off track and she was feeling it. We were at our aunt's house and Heather was "jerky". When an epileptic's body is jerky it is a warning sign of a possible seizure coming. My parents saw the warning signs and decided to head home. We were in the front row of my parent's minivan and I had my arm around Heather. She was jerking pretty significantly. My Dad pulled into a gas station to try and help. That's when Heather had a seizure in my arms. Right there in my arms! I felt so helpless. There was nothing I could do but hold her. The worst part comes after the seizure, though, when Heather realizes what has happened and is so discouraged with herself. Like it's her fault! I hate seeing her like that. Her husband can tell you that I am very mean when it comes to people keeping her up past her bedtime or not taking sufficient care of her when she is jerky.