Actual Date: Saturday, September 18, 2010
This was my reality when I woke up on this
morning. I was a patient on the cardio floor.
Brian stayed with me until about 6 in the morning when I told him to go home so he could be there when the kids woke up so they wouldn't be scared. He said he would get them feed and dressed and bring them by to see me. How did I get so lucky to marry the best guy on the face of the earth?
In the night a new Doctor came in to talk to me about what was going on. She thew out some "possibilities" but like the Doctors before her said, she really didn't want to make a guess until the Neurologist had a change to look over my Cat Scan, MRI and MRA. She said it could be anything from a small stroke to Multiple Sclerosis.
But she did tell me that I was not allowed to eat until some other specialist came into evaluate me to make sure that I could pass a swallow test in case I did in deed have a stroke. I was kinda bummed because I was starting to get hungry.
A few hours later my nurse came in and said that he had talked to my doctor and she was going to let me eat because that specialist doesn't work on the weekend, so it would be a couple days before I could eat if we had to wait for the swallow test. Plus, I was talking ok and my face wasn't paralyzed, it was just numb and tingling. So with like 15 minutes until last call for ordering breakfast, I put in my order for my yummy Cardio approved breakfast.
It was awesome! After a whole night of thinking about the "what ifs" I was ready to enjoy every little piece of life. Even if it was a blan breakfast.
Pretty soon after I finished my breakfast there was a little knock on my door and in popped these two little munchkins! Such a sight for sore eyes. I had missed them so much. Brian said Brooke was Daddy's little helper all morning and she even picked out their outfits.
That explains why she was wearing a dress without the undershirt... But she's so cute she can pull it off.
And then of course my two little handsome men were there too! Look at those cuties.
We had a fun afternoon together. I shared the rest of my breakfast with the kids and we hung out and watched some movies. It felt so good to hold all my babies and have them near me. It took my mind off of everything that was going on.
Brian, being the thoughtful man that he is, brought me our DVD player from home with some of my favorite movies. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever? And the girls, being the sweet little girls that they are, brought me some movies that they thought I would enjoy.
Can you guess which movies are my favorite and which ones the girls picked out?
After a few hours the kids were getting restless from being cooped up in my room. I didn't blame them. Even though I wasn't feeling so hot, I was getting antsy to get up and moving. I kissed them all good bye and Brian took them home to put them down for naps. He said that our neighbor Jessica said that she would come over and watch the kids again when he got home so that he could come and be with me again. Have I mentioned how much we love our neighbors? It was such a relief to know that my kids were being well taken care of.
Soon after they left it was lunch time. How cool is it that they had glass bottle soda?! The guy who brought it even popped it with a bottle top thingy ma bob!
This was heaven. As you can guess, the food, especially the food on the cardio floor, is a little blan. So that made this angel food cake taste like something from the Cheesecake Factory.
This was the beautiful view from my room. It looked like a beautiful day outside. I was bummed that I wasn't able to enjoy it.
After lunch I couldn't take it any longer. I needed to get out of that room and walk around a little. After convincing my nurse that I wasn't a fall risk, he agreed to let me get up and walk around as long as I just did laps on t he Cardio floor. That's all I needed to hear. I was off and running after that.
I yanked my IV pole from the plug and dragged it out the door to start doing some laps. It felt so great to be out of that bed! But at the same time it was a reality check. As I made my rounds I would peek into the rooms and there were a lot of people who were in really bad shape. I kept doing my rounds all the while saying internal prayers for each person that I walked by. It was really humbling to see so many people one on of their worst days.
On one of my laps I saw someone who looked familiar. It took me a lap or two to realize where I knew him from. He had sat in front of Brian and I a few weeks before at Church and we had talked to him during the morning meet and greet. I saw him on my next lap and asked him if he went to our Church and he said "Oh yeah! Now I know where I know you from! What are you doing on the Cardio floor?"
I explained to him what was going on and he was really sincere. He said that volunteers at the hospital on the weekends sometimes and he was just making his rounds. He asked me what room I was in and promised to come check on me a few times during his shift. It was really comforting to know that someone else would be looking out for me.
It was at that point that I knew in my heart that this was the Church that God planned for us to be at. Earlier in the day when Brian and the kids were visiting I had gotten a call from Michelle, another person at the church, about which Community Group we would be attending for the upcoming semester. After we got all that stuff straightened out, I asked her if she would kindly let them know that we would not be attending the New Members Meeting that we were signed up for the following day because I was in the hospital. She said "I know you don't know me but if you need anything or help with your kids, I would love to help!"
This is what I LOVE about our church. It's more than a church, it's a family.
Fast forward to today: When we walked into our first Community Group meeting weeks later, guess who was there... Michelle! How awesome is that? I gave her a big hug and told her thank you for being so kind to a stranger.
Rewind back to that day in the hospital: Later that afternoon the Neurologist came in to discuss my tests. Amazingly Brian walked in right at that time. I'm glad he was there because it was a lot of info to take in. He basically said after looking over all my tests that it looks like I was having something called a Complex Migraine.
Here's one definition of a Complex Migraine and it seems to fit:
One theory about the cause of migraine headaches is that blood vessels in the brain suddenly narrow (or spasm) and then dilate; when the blood vessels dilate, the headache develops. During the spasm phase, certain parts of the brain may receive too little blood, and this may cause the stroke-like symptoms. However, unlike a stroke, blood flow is not permanently interrupted during migraine headaches, and the neurological symptoms are nearly always temporary.
It was such a relief to finally have an answer after all those hours of waiting. He said he was ordering some more tests like an Echo cardiogram of my heart and a sonogram of my Thyroid to make sure that nothing more serious was going on. He said that I would have the sonogram done at the hospital but since it was the weekend, I wouldn't be able to do the Echo cardiogram until the regular work week. He said that he would be comfortable with me going home since the numbness was clearing up a little and doing my Echo cardiogram as an outpatient procedure early in the week. As long as my Thyroid sonogram was clear that is.
This was the best news ever. I could not wait to get home to my babies, and my own bed!
I passed the sonogram with flying colors and was able to go home with Brian that evening! I was super tired and still a little numb but it felt so great to be home. As soon as we got home we headed next door to pick up the kids. Ava said "You all done getting your shot at the doctor? You didn't cry 'cause you a big girl?" That made me smile.
Both girls had worked with Mrs. Jessica to make me get well cards. Brooke was so excited to tell me about how hard she had worked on hers. And I could tell. It was a beautiful heart pop up card.
I slept like a baby that night. It was a relief to know that our prayers had been answered and that I wasn't suffering from something major. You can bet before I went to bed that night I thanked our good Lord for putting so many amazing people in my life and I said some more prayers for all the people who were spending their night on the Cardio floor. I will forever remember their faces.
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