All in his Head

Seizures

Kelly received a phone call from the hospital. The nurse had started by saying that Matt was fine, but she'd wanted to let Kelly know that he'd just had a seizure. So, when Kelly came to see Matt the following day, he found him sleeping. He had a conversation with the doctor, concerned that Matt'd had another seizure, despite being told before they were happening because of a lack of sleep, Matt was sleeping well now, in fact, he was probably over sleeping.

The nurse informed them that Matt was awake so Kelly went to sit with him.

Matt was unresponsive but seemed to recognise Kelly. He was lying on his back, jaw slack, mouth parted, eyes open but glazed. Kelly spoke to him, watching him the entire time for any change. Maybe this was physical, and Kelly felt a glimmer of hope at the thought, because the idea of Matt being schizophrenic scared him more than he would ever admit because there'd been no improvement, in fact he'd only got worse. But they'd done so many tests, and Kelly had discovered so much about Matt's past, he could see why he was struggling mentally, and why the doctor was leaning towards schizophrenia.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Matt groaned, saliva trickling out his mouth as if he didn't have the capacity to swallow.

"Baby?"

Matt turned his head towards the familiar voice, and even though his vision was blurred he recognised Kelly.

"You had another seizure last night," Kelly told him, wanting to explain why he probably felt very groggy right now.

Matts eyes eventually found his.

"Don't worry, you don't need to do anything, just chill," Kelly said.

After a while Matt did speak. It was slurred and unintelligible to start with, random words garbled together.

"Matt?" Kelly tried his best not to be concerned, but he couldn't understand a word Matt was trying to say. He took his hand, almost hoping that Matt wasn't aware, not wanting him to think that Kelly wasn't responding to him.

Matt looked at him, eyes slowly focusing. "K… K… Kel?"

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Mmm…" he responded, more focused on sitting up, or at least trying to, he could barely lift his head.

"Wanna move?" Kelly asked him.

Matt gave him a singular nod; it took all the effort in the world to get his body to obey his thoughts.

"I'll help you sit up?"

When Matt didn't protest, Kelly gently moved Matt so he was a little more upright, supported by a few pillows and the wall behind the bed.

"How's that?"

"Mmm…" he responded, letting his head roll to the side, unable to hold it up. He said nothing more, but Kelly remained with him for some time. Thoughts slowly flittered in and out but nothing remained long enough to give much attention, everything vanished. Everything vanished except for Kelly. Kelly was sitting next to him, he knew that, and he was holding his hand. The warmth and familiarity was comforting.

After some time, Matt seemed to recover from the seizure, gathering his senses and becoming more aware. Kelly couldn't have been happier to see Matt smiling at him, and talking.

Two days later, Matt had another seizure. Kelly had been with him at the time and once he was dozing on the bed afterwards, Kelly stormed into Doctor Cohens office. The man had been eating his lunch with his phone to his ears as Kelly demanded another neurologist looked at Matt, because there must be another reason Matt was having seizures gain. The doctor finished his phone call quickly.

"That was Doctor Murphy, a neurologist from the university hospital, she's coming to see Matt when her shift ends," Doctor Cohen explained simply.

"Oh… sorry…"

"It's fine, Kelly, I understand. I'm concerned as well."

Doctor Murphy arrived later that day, she greeted Kelly in the reception area and they walked alone to the ward together. She explained how she'd gone through Matts files, but wanted the account from Kelly too as he had been with Matt since the first seizure. Kelly spoke to her at length in one of the private family rooms.

"Thank you, Kelly," she said, taking down a few final notes.

"He seems to have really deteriorated in the last twenty-four hours, he's been really struggling with his speech and coordination every so often, but doing well at times too. I've not seen everything but… ah, here he is," Kelly said, as Doctor Cohen entered the room.

"Phoebe," the doctor greeted.

"Hello, Robert, shall we speak in your office first and then I'll see Matt," she responded.

He nodded, and indicated for her to head out into the corridor. "You know where it is," he said with a smile.

Kelly left the two of them to it and headed to Matts room. He was sitting with Matt when the neurologist entered a short while later, she spoke to Kelly briefly and then took a seat on the chair Kelly had previously been occupying.

"Hello, Matt, I'm Doctor Phoebe Murphy, it's nice to meet you, I've been told a lot of things about you," she began warmly. "All good, don't worry."

Kelly watched as Matt opened his mouth, as if he was going to respond, but it closed, and his eyes remain unfocused. He'd been mostly unresponsive since Kelly had entered the room earlier on.

The doctor took a seat by Matts bed. "I'm a neurologist, Matt, and if you don't mind, I'd like to do some tests. I'm not going to hurt you and Kelly can stay with us too."

An unintelligible noise escaped Matts lips.

"Ok, Matt, I'm going ask you to do a few things for me. First, can you tell me your full name?" she asked him gently.

"M… Matt… Casey…"

"Great, do you know where you are?"

Matt shook his head.

"That's fine. You're in a psychiatric hospital," she told him. "Can you repeat this sentence for me; the cat jumped off the couch."

He remained silent; eyes unable to focus on her.

"That's ok, Matt. I'd now like you to squeeze my hands," she said, taking his hands in her own, lifting them a little.

It took a few moments, but eventually Matt squeezed.

"Thank you, Matt. Can you push against my hands now please… good, thank you… I'd like you to keep your arms up for me now," she told him before letting go of his hands.

Matts arms remained in place, but his hands trembled.

"Thank you," she said with a smile. "You can put them down now."

Matt did as she said.

"Good. You're doing really well, Matt. Not much more to do now," she continued. "Can you get off the bed for me, please?"

Matt didn't respond right away, but he gave a singular nod and slowly started to move.

"Walk towards Kelly with me," she said, by his side once he was standing.

Matt hesitated but then took some slow unsteady steps forward, it took all his concentration to get his legs to move, his coordination failed and he stumbled, using the doctor's arm to help stay upright, then he continued.

"Ok, Matt, thank you, you can get back on the bed," she told him and once he was settled, she continued. "Almost done now. Can follow my finger with your eyes, please."

Slowly she drew a letter H in the air, watching his eye movements. He struggled to focus and follow her finger, his eyes were uncoordinated, and there was some nystagmus.

"Thanks, Matt. Is your vision blurry at all?" she asked him.

Matt either hadn't heard or understood, he seemed completely unaware that he'd been asked a question.

"Is your vision blurry, Matt?" she repeated.

"I… I…"

"It's ok, take your time," she said.

"Don't."

"You don't know? Is it blurry sometimes, not all the time?"

He gave her an accentuated nod.

"Ok, one last thing, then we're done," she told him. "Can you close your eyes, then touch your nose with your finger."

Matt tried, but failed to touch his nose, he didn't realise though.

"Open your eyes please, Matt, and touch your nose with your finger," she told him, wanting to see if it would make a difference.

Kelly watched as Matt tried and missed again.

"Ok, Matt, we're all done," she told him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You can get some rest, Kelly and I will give you some privacy."

Kelly took the cue, he walked up to Matt and gave his forehead a quick kiss. "You did good, baby. I'll be back soon."

Once outside of Matts room the doctor and Kelly walked through the corridor, heading towards the exit. They stopped when they were alone.

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Kelly asked.

"There's definitely something neurological going on, I would like to do some more tests, I think it will be a good idea to transfer him to my department," she replied.

Kelly blanched at the idea of transferring him again after what had happened last time. And he felt guilty once again. "So we just missed all this and…"

"No, I've seen his test results and notes from all previous examinations, what's happening is worsening," she told him.

"It's not all in his head?"

"I'm sure there's something physical going on, I have a few ideas but I want to be sure, there seem to be a lot of fluctuating symptoms," she explained.

"Will he be ok? Will he get better?"

"I want to give you an answer, and hopefully I'll be able to soon," she told him. "We'll get him transferred first thing in the morning, if you agree?"

Kelly nodded, wanting to be hopeful they would get answers and Matt could get better.

TBC