Coach Kill Readmitting Himself Into Hospital For Seizures
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Gophers head coach Jerry Kill has readmitted himself back into the hospital in the hopes of stopping his reoccurring seizures, according to the University of Minnesota.
Kill suffered another seizure Sunday morning, according to team physician Dr. Pat Smith.
While his vital signs are strong and his condition is good, Kill was admitted to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. for further testing, Smith said.
"The seizures continue to be a concern for me and my family," Kill said, in a statement released on Sunday. "Rebecca and I have made the decision to do what it takes to find a solution. I hope to be back to work soon, but we believe that taking some time away to get a handle on this is the right thing to do."
Kill has been honest about his condition from the very beginning.
"Everybody knows from having cancer I got a seizure disorder," Kill told the press last Tuesday.
It still did not prepare fans for the seizure he had in front of thousands of fans inside TCF Bank stadium in the last seconds of the first home game against New Mexico State on Sept. 10.
Testing during his 5-day stay at the University of Minnesota Medical Center turned up nothing. There was no cancer, no tumor but the seizures kept coming.
Kill was able to rejoin the team when they played Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 17.
In that press conference, Kill estimated he's had "about 20" of the episodes in the last six days.
After coaching his team to a disappointing loss against North Dakota State, Kill had another seizure, at his home, on Sunday morning.
He and his wife made the decision to take time away from the team to determine why the seizures keep coming, checking into the Mayo Clinic.
"It's not always clear that the coach knows how many seizures he's having. He may be having more seizures than he thinks he is. Seizures are sometimes subtle, they might not all be seen or might not all be detected," said Dr. Thaddeau Walczak, an epileptologist.
Walczak said doctors will take this opportunity to study his seizures.
"They'll do EEG recording continuously, correlated with video images and try to see exactly how often the seizures are happening. Try to sort out what part of the brain they're coming from," Dr. Walczak said.
Once the figure that out, Walczak said medication should be able to help. He said there are 15 to 16 different kinds of medications used to control seizures.
He believes once doctors isolate where the seizures originate they will be able to come up with the proper meds to control it. If medications don't work, doctors could recommend more aggressive treatment to include surgery.
The Gopher's team physician did not speculate on how long Kill would be at the Mayo Clinic.
Kill also had seizures on game days twice while a coach at Southern Illinois, but he has never missed a game because of them. The Gophers (1-3) head to Michigan for their Big Ten opener this week.
