Her hand flew to her throat. The railing became a spindle—too hard, too real. Someone bumped her; laughter collided against her ear. She tried to call out, to say something ordinary: I’m fine. The words snagged. Her vision peeled into strips of color. The adrenaline that usually electrified her body during a chorus folded inward and stilled. Her left arm went numb first, then a coldness like ice water traced down to her fingertips. Faces around her stretched like reflections on warped glass. A woman with pink hair leaned in, asking if she was okay. Robyn could hear syllables like distant bells but not their meaning.
Paramedics arrived later—an ambulance light a floral incision through the night—and took her to a hospital that smelled like antiseptic and lemon. Time at the emergency department is elastic: jars of waiting, fluorescent lights scanning faces. Tests were run—blood work, CT, an EEG that felt like tiny sparrows pressed against her scalp. A nurse explained things in efficient syllables. The word “provoked” fluttered by—fever, lack of sleep, illicit substances—none of which fit neatly into her night’s narrative. The doctor considered many possibilities, spoke of focal onset and generalized patterns, and used words that suggested both explanation and uncertainty. ifeelmyself robyn seizure
Recovery was a slow pivot. The days after were stitched with appointments and angles of light through blinds. Neurology recommended an MRI to check for lesions, an EEG to understand patterns, and—depending on findings—an antiseizure medication. She learned the clinical language: focal seizure versus generalized tonic-clonic; aura; postictal confusion. But the words did not capture the small humiliations: waking in a stranger’s apartment with the taste of iron in her mouth, missing a shift at work because her memory had been eaten by time, the dread of music that once felt like home now waiting on the verge of danger. Her hand flew to her throat