It was up and down. I was already in a training program for a lucrative and interesting job once I graduated. I had great friends and a good boyfriend (even though we it eventually dawned on is that it would probably end after graduation)

But I had been playing hockey my entire life and played for my college. I had suffered a semi-serious concussion that took a while to rebound from a few years earlier and definitely more that were undiagnosed when I was younger. Lots of concussions in hockey and in girls soccer. They weren't paying too much attention, especially in the 90's.

Midway though my last season, I started having seizures. I was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy as a result of a TBI and had to stop playing.

Luckily we found a medication combination that worked for me pretty early on but it really shook my confidence and the side effects from the meds made studying difficult. The commute to my internship/training became a problem because I couldn't drive and I had to quit my part time job. I need to be busy in order to function and having too much free time isn't good for me. I couldn't really work out because I was worried about overextending myself. Netflix wasn't as much of a thing yet. Reading gave me headaches. I was going crazy.

I felt lost and kind of alone but I was afraid to actually be physically alone because I was worried about having a seizure without anyone to help me.

I almost didn't take the job. I had lost confidence in myself and it required a lot of travel but my parents pushed me. I'm glad they did. I'm 29 now. Life is good. If I had to do it over, I probably wouldn't have played hockey that season. It might not have changed anything but having epilepsy kind of sucks.