UP FRONT/COMMENTARY: Some people just have seizures — including me

Health crises usually strike at the beginning or end of one’s life — they rarely happen when you’re just entering adulthood.

I’m one of those anomalies.

I got diagnosed with a seizure disorder and had my first episode when I was 18, a few months after graduating high school.

While I can’t tell you exactly how many shaky blackouts I’ve had over the last seven years (that’s what the notes app on my mom’s iPad is for), it’s somewhere north of 10.

All of my episodes feature unique experiences but include several frustrating similarities, such as my left shoulder popping out of its socket and a hazy mind trying to figure out what just happened.

Unfortunately, even when the clouds clear in my head and my shoulder is put back in place, the answer to “what just happened” is still somewhat of a mystery.

“Some people just have seizures,” and sadly, I make up the small majority of people who lose control of their bodies from time to time.

This random stroke of luck has gotten my driver’s license revoked, guaranteed arthritis in my shoulder and put me in crippling medical debt. But it’s not all bad; I’ve lived to tell the tale, and I have some unbelievable stories to share with the loyal subscribers of the Lewiston Tribune.

Here’s one of them:

Someone get this guy behind the wheel

My first epileptic episode happened in the spring of 2018, when I was on my way to pick up breakfast in my 1990 Mazda 626, nicknamed “Ass Kicker.”

Luckily, it happened while Ass Kicker was at a stoplight, and some upstanding citizens were able to call emergency services pretty quickly.

I wasn’t so fortunate with my most recent seizure-while-driving accident on Jan. 5, 2023.

I was slated to cover an Idaho vs. Sacramento State men’s basketball game at 6 p.m.

I stayed awake the night before and didn’t catch any shuteye until about 7 a.m. or so the day of the game.

Going to bed while it was light out and waking up when it was dark was a constant for me as a sports writer.

I woke up, looked at my phone, and the clock read 5:30, 30 minutes until tip-off, and I still needed to make the more than half-hour drive to Moscow.

I rushed out of bed, skipped a shower and sprinted downstairs with my stomach growling.

As I reached the end of the steps, I saw that my roommate had just finished making dinner.

He offered me a plate, but if I had any hope of making it to the game on time, I had to leave now.

I ran outside and started my recently purchased car, which I bought two weeks earlier.

It was a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox with just 8,000 miles on it.

I was in love with that car; it was by far the nicest and most dependable vehicle that I had ever driven.

It was also pretty fast for a mom car and gave me a chance to make it to this Big Sky matchup on time.

As I fired up the speed racer, the clock read 5:40, and I knew I wasn’t going to make it to Moscow in 20 minutes, but I could try.

As I made my way up the Lewiston Hill, I was clocking in speeds of 75-80 miles per hour, and as I neared the top of the hill, things just went dark.

When I came to, I had grueling shoulder pain that I only get when I seize, so I knew what was going on. But everything was still pretty hazy.

For example, I was clueless about what I was doing at the moment and didn’t remember where I was going.

The only things I knew for sure were that I had a seizure and I was probably backing up traffic because an EMT was helping me out of my car.

As I was being put into the ambulance, the first question I asked was, “Is my car OK?”

The EMTs could just say, “Buddy, look out of the window.” My 2-week-old car was completely totaled.

Apparently what happened was that while I was seizing, I slammed on the gas pedal, took the car off the road, and went airborne.

According to bystanders who called the police, my beloved Equinox did at least one full rotation and landed on its top.

Luckily, I somehow only walked away with two dislocated shoulders and a mild concussion.

It’s a blessing that I came away from that incident relatively unscathed, and following that, I went seizure-free for a little more than a year. That was until my most recent episode last month.

But I’ll save that story for another day.

Pixley is the Tribune’s online editor. He can be contacted at tpixley@lmtribune.com and followed on Twitter @TreebTalks.