Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Another Scary Event

You may remember a post of mine from January here. On Monday, I took the day off because my parents were coming home from a much needed relaxation trip to Key West, so I stayed home with Addison. Luckily again, Aaron was working from home. Around 830, I was in the kitchen washing dishes before getting breakfast for Addison and I. While washing dishes, Addison called from the other room "Mommy what are you doing"? As I stood there washing dishes, I immediately couldn't figure out how to call back to her "I'm washing the dishes". I stood there practically SPEECHLESS struggling to put my words together. I always use lots of words when talking with Addison- big words, long sentences, etc. to expose her as much as I possibly can to "big girl words". Well Monday morning I couldn't even tell her I was washing the dishes. She came out of her room to see what was going on. My words were coming out completely jumbled and in little parts that didn't match with each other. I stood there quietly trying to compose myself, and started getting her breakfast. I started asking her if she wanted Rice Krispies as I grabbed the box from the cabinet. I couldn't say much of anything. Finally in despair (after a good 3-5 minutes of this) I yelled Aaron! That came out pretty clear. He immediately came in and I tried to explain that I couldn't talk, but he soon experienced that. I had a thousand things running through my mind- stroke was the first! I sat down to eat breakfast with Addison after deciding I was going to try to stop talking for a bit. Once I sat down, the right side of my tongue started feeling "fuzzy"- I could still feel it, but it wasn't quite right. I got up and looked in the mirror to make sure my face was symmetric. It was. Then my right hand started feeling fuzzy- again I could feel and move it, but it was tingly feeling. This sensation slowly moved up my arm but no further than my right elbow. This lasted a good 5-10 mins. Addison ate breakfast, painted a few pictures while all of this was going on and I was sitting next to her in astonishment at what was happening with my body. I'm sure she's never heard me so quiet. I tried to talk to her (as my speech had somewhat returned) so she wouldn't be as scared as I was. After about an hour, everything seemed to go back to normal, so we packed our lunch and took our trip to the playground and picnic with Kelly and Taylor as planned.

Of course I called my Mom and Dad right away and I know they were both worried driving in the car the whole way home. My Mom and I can read each other's minds whether standing side by side, or over the phone hours away! She mentioned to me calling but I kind of brushed it off. She mentioned it again and I agreed I would schedule a neurology appointment to find out what was going on. I knew I should go to get checked out, but I didn't. A dear friend of mine, former coworker, has been a sounding block throughout the past few months with my medical concerns and it was her that pushed me over the edge to tell me something could be seriously wrong and I needed to go right away. Of course I already heard this from my parents and at this point made up my mind that I was going. So I waited until Aaron's busy day was somewhat over, and announced to him that we were taking Addison to my parents for a sleepover and he and I were going to the ER. After a 4 hour stay in the ER, I had another EKG completed (they said perfect heart again) and MRI completed (negative). So all results had come back okay. They moved my neurologist appt to the next day, so that was a relief.

This morning, Mom, Addison and I headed to the Neurologist. What a great place. They squeezed me in last minute and were so nice and FAST! He was so thorough and explained his thoughts that I experienced a migraine without a headache. He wanted to run some tests to rule out other things such as disorders, stroke, seizures, etc. He said he isn't doubting the possibility of a seizure with the migraine. So I'm scheduled for a battery of tests and blood work to verify his diagnosis is correct and will return to him in 2 weeks. After all of this discussion, I remembered the news reporter that has been in the news for her "migraine" episode. After watching this clip below, I can honestly say- THAT WAS ME! Minus the blurred vision, that's exactly what it was like- I knew what I was saying was not correct. I had the numbness rather than blurry vision.

News Reporter Migraine
Addison definitely pays attention to everything and shows us each day how much she remembers. Last night at my parents house, Addison started telling them what hapened- without them even asking her. She did the same thing to me today- Mommy, yesterday you were in the kitchen getting my breakfast and you couldn't even say Rice Krispies! We just laugh about it with her now and tell her that Mommy was so silly and forgot what they were called, but our little girl sure has a memory and pays close attention to everything around her.
I will surely keep you posted on the events that unfold with this. I can say it's something I never thought at 29 years old I would be experiencing. I told my parents I feel like an 80 or 90 year old with all the appointments I have scheduled. I have to be thankful that if it is in fact migraines, I am so lucky.

1 comment:

Becky said...

Laura,
I didn't know about the first "scare" until today when I read this update. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you guys out. I will be praying for you! Love you! Becky