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Seizure Diaries: Jumping Without a Net

The latest news here is about Charlie and his day-to-day seizure experiences. It is also about Steph and her loss of a job.

Mother’s Day, 2024

Strange day for a PINK SLIP, Mother’s Day, May 12, 2024. Steph accepted a willful termination from her job at Walmart, the largest retailer on the planet. The circumstances are very unusual: just a few months shy of her 20th anniversary with Walmart, Stephanie Hooper’s employment was ended. Really? Steph keeps her Walmart longevity, if she returns to work in a defined time frame.Then and only then would her tenure and benefits be restored. That said, she is foregoing income. Now she is jumping into Mid-May 2024 without a financial net.

It appears to be deliberate. Walmart seems to have wanted to terminate her before a score of years on the books! Such a strange turn of events. Steph is not without a job at home these days. Charlie is in need of her help and she aims to deliver it. All in all Steph is taking the pink slip well. She told her husband: “Charlie, I am exactly where I need to be right now. I’m taking care of you!” That said, it all seems strange and unfair. The company did interestingly “sweeten the pot” by allowing Steph to return to work one or two days a week.

As Charlie acknowledges, “I am still averaging 80-90 seizures of all types per month. The doctors are doing what they can for my brain issues these days, but it is rough. Steph and I are both physically and emotionally exhausted from all of this medication, brain scans, seizure activity, and waiting. My headaches are still here; they have not gone away.”

“I will say that I have gotten some relief from the Botox treatments I have received. Those treatments seem to help. But about 3 days a week I get hit with collosal migraines. The other days 4 days I have focal seizures. As bad as this sounds, it is an improvement from daily migraines I had been experiencing for the past many years.”

Charlie went on to acknowledge, “I have noticed I am having trouble figuring out how to do things that were simple for me before this latest surgery. We are trying to stay positive, but it’s hard some days.”

In a remarkable sign of hope and determination, Steph said, “We remind each other every day that we still have so much to be grateful for.”

Amen! to this resilient couple.