On Tuesday April 23rd, 2013 at 5:00am my phone rang. I did not get to it. The message was from my Dad, "We're at the Hospital, your Mother has had a heart attack."
What was said after that, I am not sure because to be completely open and honest, I lost my shit. It felt like something in me broke. I have always been aware of just how fortunate I am to have both my parents alive and well. My Dad turned 81 in January and my Mom turns 80 in July. Neither look their age. My Dad had a heart issue a little more than 10 years ago, and since then, he's been fine.
My Mom is the healthiest senior/older person I know. Apart from a digestive issue that is no doubt related to the stress caused by her daughter, she is in great shape. My parents look after themselves, they eat well, and this was just completely unexpected and out of the blue.
Where my parents live and the Hospital my Mom was taken to all resulted in the best possible outcome. By the time I arrived at the Hospital, my Mom had already had her
Angioplasty with 2 Stents, was doing well, and resting in her room in the C.C.U.
On Thursday April 25th, 2013 I went back to work. The plan was for me to go the Hospital directly from work Friday & spend the weekend there, which at that point, could have resulted in her discharge. She was released from Hospital on Tuesday April 30th, 2013 and is at home and starting her recovery and doing well. Blessed and so appreciative.
My Thursday (Apr 25th) however, did not go as planned. I'd had a headache since the day before. Chalked it up to stress. I noted to my Manager at noon that my headache had gone. I figured the work had eased my mind a bit by having to think of other things. At 2:00pm, all of a sudden, my eyes seemed to become independent of each other. I was incredibly dizzy and could not walk a straight line to the washroom without hitting walls. After about 5 minutes I called 911.
I was transported to a Hospital near my workplace. This is itself caused me MORE stress. It's not close to home and it's not the best Hospital or on the best part of town. The truth is, I was too scared, too dizzy, and too nauseous to put up much of a fight so I did what I do best, suffered in silence.
When the Ambulance Tech released me to the Hospital, I was alone. I had to go to the washroom so I asked the Tech if she could wheel me over to the washroom & just watch my bag before she left. I stumbled in, clinging to the walls, only to notice that BOTH stalls did not have any toilet paper. When all was finally said and done, I sat back in my chair in the ER waiting room and threw up in a bag in front of a bunch of strangers. Lovely.
For 2 hours I sat in the waiting room, clutching my bag with eyes closed trying not to move my head so the world would stop spinning. Around 5pm I was wheeled into a multiple bed section and asked to disrobe from the waist up. This in itself was an Olympic event. The bucket they gave me after they took away the bag was always within reach. Sometime later a Doctor came in, moved my head about, got me to follow her finger, gave me some Gravol and told me to rest for a bit, and that she'd be back to check in on my progress.
The Gravol eased the nausea but my eyes remained wonky and the world continued to spin. The ER doc diagnosed me with
Acute Vestibular Neuritis. She gave me a prescription for Steroids, told me to go home & lay down and within 3 days it should straighten itself out.
When I got out of the cab, came inside and cleaned myself up after throwing up again, I stumbled out to the hallway. When Adam saw me and I opened my eyes to look at him he said, "Jesus Christ." Now he tells people I look like
Marty Feldman. My left eye was looking off to the left. Scary.
I woke up Sunday morning Apr 28th, and my eyes were still wonky. By wonky, I mean still not straight. I had ( and still have) double vision. This was not good so at 10:20am I hopped in a cab & took myself to Sunnybrook ER.
At 5:00pm after laying on a stretcher pulled up next to the nurses station in the ER. not in a room, with a towel over my eyes due to the sensitivity to light and dizziness, and after a CT scan failed to show anything, I was admitted to Hospital.
Scary. On Monday Apr 29th, I had an MRI. Terrifying. Thank goodness I got an
Ativan to relax me before hand or I might not have made it through. Since they were doing my head, I had to have a cage placed over it to secure it to the board so I wouldn't move. To not freak myself out more than necessary, I kept my eyes closed from the moment I laid on the table to the moment I was being wheeled out of the room.
On Tuesday, my eyes were still wonky, I still had double vision, and the doctors from the Neurology department were stumped. My MRI did not show a stroke, a tumor, an aneurysm, or what they expected, and inflammation or lesion on the C3 nerve in my brain stem. Of course all great news, but then what the hell is wrong with me?
I have Sarcoidosis, so it was a possibility that I had/have some sarcoid inflammation. I had no headache, no pain, no numbness, no tingles, could it be MS? I was ordered to have a
Lumbar Puncture (Spinal Tap). I thought the MRI was bad. Cripes, this was worse.
On Thursday, my eyes had improved very slightly in that I could see out of each eye, but both open together still produced double vision. My right eye is ok, my left eye seems to have a hard time focusing in and it feels like it wanders. With both eyes open, when looking to the right, the left eye stops at the center position whereas the right eye keeps going right. It is hard to explain and I'm trying to get better at it.
I was released from Hospital Thursday afternoon. I still have double vision but it seems to be getting better in very tiny increments. I've increased the font size on my computer, Adam bought me a funky cool pirate eye patch and I've been survivng by keeping my left eye closed.
I have to go to my family doctor this week to get the remaining Lumbar Puncture results. The initial results at the hospital didn't show anything but there are a few tests that take more time to garner results.
I have also been referred to a specialist - a Neurological Ophthalmologist, so I'm waiting for that phone call. I go back to work tomorrow and I'm terrified. Bus, Subway, Bus, crossing streets. It's tough because I feel, well I am, visually impaired, but no one can tell so I feel as if they think I'm drunk, mental, or just in the way. I'm thinking of trying those
walking poles like ski poles to give me a bit of security. I see all the old dears walking around the neighborhood with them. We'll see.
So, how was your week?
