Sienna Ponce

Since I was five, I started experiencing absent seizures, these are not the shaking and foaming but where I check out. We started noticing because I would have a conversation with someone, mid conversation have a seizure then come back but the conversation that happened I was not present so I would respond “what did you say?”. I grew up going to the doctors for checkups and taking tests (EEG). I was on a medication that I would take to bed every night. It went everywhere with me, if I was sleeping over someone else’s house, my parents made sure to give them my medicine even if it mean driving far. My classmates knew and so did the school for safety. As time went on the seizures became less but the physical actions were more intense as they happened less. When I turned 10 I stopped having seizures and was seizure free……..

2022, I started having severe 24/7 migraines, my therapist started noticing it getting worse so the search began, I went to every doctor you can think of to figure out what was going on because it was awful. One doctor told me I’m okay, so next doctor and did it all over again with the new one to get the answer to what I was struggling with. My mom recommended I go to a neurologist so I did and we scheduled an EEG. I HATE EEGS BUT I HAVE SHORT HAIR SO THATS A PLUS! I get a call on Christmas Eve from the doctor and what came out of their mouth had me questioning if I heard it right so I went to my dad and he heard it too, we were all in shock because we were told I outgrew it as kids with absence seizures usually do.

But with all of this, what I can do is use my story to help someone else with the struggles that come with this battle. If I can get thru it, you can too!

I will do the next post on things that have worked for me!

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As time as went on, I have had different career paths have been ideas. The first one was to be a firefighter. Since I was a kid it was so exciting to me. When a fire truck would pass by, I would wave and then they would honk the horn, I would get so happy. I got several chances to try on the gear and it was exciting but man that gear is heavy! The hose I thought was so cool to be able to do and the idea of becoming one was something that excited me. I loved going to the different stations around Miami, the one by Tropical Park has a beautiful touch to it as it is a memorial to 9/11 and you can tell they put a lot of thought into it!
Then it was military/police, I had it all planned out in my head. Join the Airforce (Chairforce-IFYKYK😆)as military police then after serving, continuing it in civilian. I watched so many videos on YouTube in highschool because I wanted to know what it was like. My cousin VALERIA heavily influenced my excitement for it. I was going to go right out of highschool. But things had changed and college came.
My first major was English, saw the classes and within a few days I wanted to do something I would enjoy, after I read “What Happened to You”, I was also taking Intro to Psych. I LOVED LEARNING ABOUT IT IN THAT CLASS, the professor was amazing and had several jobs within the field( police, psychiatrist and therapist) and he taught well! I went to the desk and said I wanted to switch and the gentlemen said “are you sure, it’s not easy”, I said yes as I loved learning about it. The same day I went to therapy and I was ecstatic, therapy allowed me to learn about myself in different ways I didn’t know. I grasped the information well as I did well on our only two grades. I knew what I was walking into including having to go for a masters. Once I got into my last two years of my B.A., I was enjoying it so much and always looking for opportunities to learn more!
Advocacy has allowed me to use psychology in ways to help others, I have loved it. It has allowed me to use my past struggles while applying my knowledge to help others going through similar battles.
Stay tuned for what God has next on this journey called Life:)