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One fun fact about Minghao was that he received his epilepsy diagnosis when he was only two years old.
After fourteen years of coping with the condition, Minghao was getting very, very good at coping with his epilepsy. He was lucky enough to have great parents, supportive friends, an excellent GP and working medication.
When he had first received his diagnosis, Minghao didn’t remember how frustrating it was for his parents and GP to find a medication that worked. Eventually, he settled on Tegretol, the only AED that had stopped his daily seizures and reduced them to just once a month if he was lucky.
Minghao’s friend group had been Minghao’s friend group since he was ten, and even six years later their friendship was as strong as ever.
Despite Minghao’s medication, there were still times when he woke up lying on the floor, his friends stroking his back or playing with his hair and trying to help him come around. There were still times when he woke up with his dog, Ash the Husky, standing over him.
There had been a fair few times when Minghao had woken up in an ambulance, one of his limbs clearly dislocated and feeling concussed.
The worst part of having epilepsy was the flare-ups. Sometimes, Minghao’s brain decided it had had enough of his medication and he had the odd week where he had lots of seizures. Instead of seizures being once a month they started coming several times a day.
When his medication was working, Minghao still had plenty of absences, the occasional atonic seizure, maybe a seizure or two while he was sleeping and one big tonic-clonic a month. During flare-ups, Minghao could have all of this and more in just a day.
The worst flare-ups actually weren’t the worst. With the worst of his flare-ups at least he got to stay at home in bed, his parents and Ash helping him through the seizures.
The most painful flare-ups were always the ones that weren’t as bad, when he had seizures but not enough to get him off school, and all of the seizures were smaller ones.
Minghao knew a new flare-up was starting when he had an atonic seizure during class. Atonic seizures were one of the rarest seizures for Minghao, and he only seemed to get them as either warning for much bigger seizures or during flare-ups.
He started feeling a little dizzy for a few seconds before his body suddenly went limp. Mingyu reacted quickly, grabbing Minghao’s head and pulling him close so Minghao was lying against him instead of falling into the desk.
For almost twenty full seconds all Minghao could do was lay there, completely limp and eyes closed, unable to breathe. Mingyu was stroking his hair and talking quietly to him.
When Minghao came around from the seizure, he took a deep breath, opened his eyes and lifted his arms to show Mingyu he could move again.
“I’m back.” Minghao sighed, slowly lifting himself back up to sit properly in his chair, still breathing a little heavier. “I’m back. Just keep teaching.”
Seizures were embarrassing, especially when the teacher decided to pause the lesson, making everyone turn and stare at him. It was always awful for him. Having a seizure only to wake up to twenty people staring at you was a horrible experience, especially since Minghao knew he never looked his best after a seizure.
Thankfully, Mr Choi soon continued teaching, leaving Mingyu to help Minghao come around some more.
After that boring History lesson, Minghao had a little cluster of myoclonic seizures, arms jerking out to hit Mingyu a few times as they walked down the corridor to the lunch hall.
At lunch, Minghao’s friend kept noticing his absence seizures. Minghao seemed to be staring off more than he was talking to them.
“He’s having a flare-up, I think. He kept having absences in History and he had a drop attack too.” Mingyu said, rubbing Minghao’s back as he returned to staring off in the vague direction of Joshua.
Minghao quickly came back around after just a few seconds, returning to eating his food as if nothing had happened.
Well, to him, nothing had happened.
Minghao got through the final two lessons with plenty of frustrating seizures, including another drop seizure and enough absences to prevent him from understanding anything either teacher had said. Junhui had been a great help, stopping Minghao from braining himself on the desk as his body went limp. He also took some notes for Minghao when he noticed Minghao staring off.
It was after school when things got bad.
They had finished their day, Minghao’s last lesson having been Korean with Junhui. The bell had rung to dismiss them, and they had quickly packed up to head home, Minghao wanting to curl up in bed with Ash to ride out any more seizures he would have.
Unfortunately, Minghao’s brain had other plans.
They were just walking down the hallway to the door when Minghao felt it coming. He felt a little lightheaded, arms and fingers tingling slightly as he started to feel scared, turning around to get to the nearest bathroom.
Junhui followed him, holding his hand and helping him avoid walking straight into people.
“Seizure?” Junhui said simply.
Minghao nodded. “Yeah. I don’t have long.”
The two continued down the corridor, bumping into Wonwoo on the way. Wonwoo joined them, recognising the way Minghao had gone pale and shaky.
They soon got to a locker room, empty now it was the end of the day. Junhui took some towels from some lockers and laid them down on the floor. Minghao laid down on the towels, Wonwoo took off his hoodie and folded it under Minghao’s head.
There were tears in Minghao’s eyes right up until the moment his eyes rolled back in his head and his body stiffened up, the convulsions soon taking over his body.
Wonwoo was holding his phone, a stopwatch up on the screen to time Minghao’s seizure. Junhui reached out towards Minghao’s abandoned backpack, grabbing the box of Nayzilam.
Junhui had one hand in Minghao’s hair, brushing through it in an attempt at comfort, while the other held some paper towels to wipe away the saliva running down Minghao’s face.
“You’re alright, Hao. We’ve got you.” Wonwoo said, voice deep and reassuring.
They had learnt that Minghao found Wonwoo’s voice really reassuring during a seizure, most likely because during a seizure Minghao couldn’t really tell what was going on around him if he was conscious, and Wonwoo’s voice was very recognisable.
In the end, Junhui had to give Minghao the emergency medications, opening the box, placing the nozzle just up Minghao’s nostril and pressing down to give him the medication.
It didn’t take long for Minghao’s convulsions to begin weakening, and soon after that, he was lying limp on the locker room floor.
Junhui pulled Minghao onto his side and into the recovery position.
He looked so tired when he woke up, struggling to keep his eyes open. Junhui gently raised Minghao’s head into his lap, brushing back his black hair when he heard Minghao whimper softly.
Junhui slipped Minghao’s phone from his pocket, unlocking it and handing it to Wonwoo. “Call his mother and tell her Minghao had a seizure.”
Wonwoo nodded, taking the phone and picking the right number in Minghao’s contacts.
Wonwoo headed over to the other side of the room to place the call, while Junhui tried to check over Minghao. The poor kid was too confused and frustrated at his own lack of movement as he struggled to get to his feet. Junhui kept him down, letting Minghao keep his tired head against Junhui’s chest.
Junhui pressed a kiss to Minghao’s forehead, something he knew comforted Minghao a lot after seizures.
Wonwoo ended the call with Minghao’s mother, sitting down on the nearby bench. “She’s on her way.”
Junhui nodded, whispering the same thing to Minghao in Mandarin so he understood better.
By the time Minghao’s mother arrived, Minghao had started to come around a little more, although he still couldn’t stand very well and his hands were trembling. He still seemed confused, not 100% sure where he was, although he seemed to recognise Junhui and Mingyu.
When Minghao’s mother stepped into the changing room, Ash on his lead beside her, Minghao immediately tried to get up, only to fall to his knees. Ash nudged his head slightly, understanding that Minghao wasn’t feeling well and that he needed comfort.
Minghao sighed softly, bringing up a hand to stroke Ash’s head and ears. “Love you, Ash,” Minghao whispered in Mandarin, voice soft and weak.
“Thank you, boys.” Minghao’s mother said to the other two in the room.
Junhui bowed slightly. “It was no problem, Mrs Xu. He’s been having a lot of seizures today. Mingyu said he had a drop attack and a few myoclonic seizures in History, and then he had another drop attack and plenty of absences in Korean. I’m pretty sure he didn’t have much clue what was happening in Korean. We had to give him his rescue medication too.” Junhui added, throwing the empty box into the trashcan in the corner of the room and handing Mrs Xu Minghao’s phone.
Mrs Xu smiled, tucking away the phone and taking Minghao’s hand. “Come on, Honey. Let’s get out to the car.”
When Minghao tried and failed to stand, Junhui helped him up on Wonwoo’s back and the two helped him out to the car park.
Minghao luckily only lived a few minutes' drive from school, so he could get home and into bed quickly instead of having to stay in the car for too long. Junhui got him lying across the backseat, while Ash and Mrs Xu got into the front.
“Thank you again, boys.” Mrs Xu called out of the open window as she started the car.
Junhui and Wonwoo both smiled. “No problem, Mrs Xu. Take care of him.” Wonwoo called.
The drive was short, less than five minutes before they pulled up at the house.
Minghao struggled to get up, still dizzy and sleepy from the seizure. Mr Xu met them outside, getting Minghao onto his back to lift the sleepy boy into the house.
Soon enough Minghao was tucked in bed, surrounded by blankets and fuzzy pillows, Ash lying next to him. Minghao always loved Ash. It didn’t matter if his parents were at work and he’d had a seizure alone, or if he’d just woken up on the kitchen floor; Ash was always there, just like his friends at school.
Minghao fell asleep that evening comfortable in bed after his parents had said goodnight, cuddled up with his fluffy blankets and Ash beside him.