JANET LE BLOND
ok here is my story. kinda long and i hope i dont mix it up too much.
January/98 i fell backwards on some ice, knocking myself unconscious for about 1 minute giving myself a concussion and whiplash.
january/99 while typing on my computer (the monitor was too high so i was probably squishing something) i got a bad headache. i slept for an hour and then when i woke up i had sever vertigo that lasted about 5 hours. after taking some gravol, i slept some more and woke up with my right leg numb.
the next morning i got up to go to work, but found my whole right side numb. i called in sick and went to the family doctor. he diagnosed migraine. ive never had a migraine, nor had anyone in my family. he told me to go home and rest and it will go away in a day or two.
8 days later, i was still numb so was sent into town to the hospital. they admitted me for an mri.
anybody from canada knows the normal waiting list for an mri is
about a year. i was lucky, i had one in a few hours. it showed a small meningionoma brain tumor that they asssured me was not causing me any problems. everything else was normal. i also had an mra, and it was completely normal. so the neurologist said he wanted to play the wait and see game for 6 weeks.
March/99. numbness still there and now i was very clumsy too. due to my family history of ms, he thought hat might be a possibility.
june/99 developed a bad case of scleritis left eye. treated and all was ok ( had it before this too)
July/99 mri done, showing numerous "unidentified bright objects in right side of head.
july/99 another bout of scleritis.
august/99 started getting bad headaches at the bottom of my right side of head. treated with toradol
october/99 my first visual auro. i had no idea what that was but i knew i didnt like it much
november/99 auras increased to several a day, saw retina doctor who diagnosed some vessel at back of eye was inflamed but she said it not causing aura.
march/00 was up to about 15 auras a day. could no longer go out alone or drive. couldnt see well enough during an aura. neurologist starting to think something wrong with my arteries or perhaps lupus because of the scleritis
may/00 my mouth keeps getting this wierd taste then becoming completely numb. im clumsy, getting vertigo constantly but the auras are happening less.
may/00 after having a bad headache for 6 days at the right base of my head, i finally went to the hospital. they treated with 2 IV's. it took the edge off of it for the night. the next day it was back full force. i ended up going to the local emergency clinic, they again started an iv, and tried several different meds before it was finally gone.
june/00 mri shows ive had two strokes in the cerebellum
july/00 left side still numb from january/99 but in july/00 i got very very numb and clumsy. i had also moved to another province this month and new neurologist said probably ms. booked all the tests and sent me home
august/00 woke up one day and couldnt hold a pen, speech very slurred. saw neurologist, again sent home to wait for tests. he did however offer me some sedatives to make me feel better. hubby got me out of there before i told him where to put his pills.
september/00 by this time i had had it with the medical profession, i had little use for them and no confidence
in them. my husband was out of the country on business leaving me alone with 3 kids. one night while sitting on the couch my entire left side went completely paralized. it passed after 10 minutes and then i was fine. an hour later it happened again. again, lasted about 10 minutes then i was fine. i went to bed, waking up the next morning all messed up.
about a year. i was lucky, i had one in a few hours. it showed a small meningionoma brain tumor that they asssured me was not causing me any problems. everything else was normal. i also had an mra, and it was completely normal. so the neurologist said he wanted to play the wait and see game for 6 weeks.
March/99. numbness still there and now i was very clumsy too. due to my family history of ms, he thought hat might be a possibility.
june/99 developed a bad case of scleritis left eye. treated and all was ok ( had it before this too)
July/99 mri done, showing numerous "unidentified bright objects in right side of head.
july/99 another bout of scleritis.
august/99 started getting bad headaches at the bottom of my right side of head. treated with toradol
october/99 my first visual auro. i had no idea what that was but i knew i didnt like it much
november/99 auras increased to several a day, saw retina doctor who diagnosed some vessel at back of eye was inflamed but she said it not causing aura.
march/00 was up to about 15 auras a day. could no longer go out alone or drive. couldnt see well enough during an aura. neurologist starting to think something wrong with my arteries or perhaps lupus because of the scleritis
may/00 my mouth keeps getting this wierd taste then becoming completely numb. im clumsy, getting vertigo constantly but the auras are happening less.
may/00 after having a bad headache for 6 days at the right base of my head, i finally went to the hospital. they treated with 2 IV's. it took the edge off of it for the night. the next day it was back full force. i ended up going to the local emergency clinic, they again started an iv, and tried several different meds before it was finally gone.
june/00 mri shows ive had two strokes in the cerebellum
july/00 left side still numb from january/99 but in july/00 i got very very numb and clumsy. i had also moved to another province this month and new neurologist said probably ms. booked all the tests and sent me home
august/00 woke up one day and couldnt hold a pen, speech very slurred. saw neurologist, again sent home to wait for tests. he did however offer me some sedatives to make me feel better. hubby got me out of there before i told him where to put his pills.
september/00 by this time i had had it with the medical profession, i had little use for them and no confidence
in them. my husband was out of the country on business leaving me alone with 3 kids. one night while sitting on the couch my entire left side went completely paralized. it passed after 10 minutes and then i was fine. an hour later it happened again. again, lasted about 10 minutes then i was fine. i went to bed, waking up the next morning all messed up.
i tried to get up and succeeded in falling on my face. i finally got up on the edge of my bed and cried. i am not generally a cryer, but that day i couldnt help it. i was alone with 3 kids, hubby out of the country, living in a new place where i knew nobody. so i decided i would muddle along and was sure it would pass.
i got the kids to ordeer pizza for supper because i couldnt cook at that point. the next day i was in an even bigger mess. i couldnt get in the shower. couldnt lift my arm or hand up and
could hardly talk. my oldest son wanted to call a doctor, but i told him ide kill him if he did. i wasnt very reasonable either.
the 3rd day, i was a basket case, i could no longer sit up without support, i couldnt walk, couldnt talk. i wouldnt answer the phone because i knew it was my husband a 6 hours time difference away and i didnt want to worry him. so hubby called when he knew my kids would be home from school. my oldest sons words were "moms all slumped over on the couch totally (scuse the language) fucked up. hubby calls his sister, a nurse who lives about 45 mintues from here. she comes over and tells me im crazy that i have to go to the hospital. i refused an ambulance. i couldnt stop crying, i hadnt eaten or drank anything in 3 days cause i was choking on my own spit even.
finally my sister in law made a deal with me. if i went to the family doctor, i did whatever she said. so i said if that would stop everybody from bugging me i would. i was quite content to just sit on the couch till hubby returned in 3 weeks. i was definitly not thinking straight.
i couldnt walk, so it was not an easy thing for my sister in law and kids to get me into the car. i wasnt exactly cooperative.
of course the family doctor told my sister in law to take me to the hospital. so there we went. i was lucky they took me right away. the doctors their said i was probably having major ms flare. hello, only on one side?
hubby flew home, took him 2 days to get back in canada but boy was i glad to see him. i wanted to go home.
I waited in the hospital for 3 days waiting for an mri. the hospital i was in was having their mri worked on so i was taken by ambulance to another hospital. by the time i got back to my bed, there was another stretcher waiting for me, the doctor said i had had multiple strokes and not ms.
could hardly talk. my oldest son wanted to call a doctor, but i told him ide kill him if he did. i wasnt very reasonable either.
the 3rd day, i was a basket case, i could no longer sit up without support, i couldnt walk, couldnt talk. i wouldnt answer the phone because i knew it was my husband a 6 hours time difference away and i didnt want to worry him. so hubby called when he knew my kids would be home from school. my oldest sons words were "moms all slumped over on the couch totally (scuse the language) fucked up. hubby calls his sister, a nurse who lives about 45 mintues from here. she comes over and tells me im crazy that i have to go to the hospital. i refused an ambulance. i couldnt stop crying, i hadnt eaten or drank anything in 3 days cause i was choking on my own spit even.
finally my sister in law made a deal with me. if i went to the family doctor, i did whatever she said. so i said if that would stop everybody from bugging me i would. i was quite content to just sit on the couch till hubby returned in 3 weeks. i was definitly not thinking straight.
i couldnt walk, so it was not an easy thing for my sister in law and kids to get me into the car. i wasnt exactly cooperative.
of course the family doctor told my sister in law to take me to the hospital. so there we went. i was lucky they took me right away. the doctors their said i was probably having major ms flare. hello, only on one side?
hubby flew home, took him 2 days to get back in canada but boy was i glad to see him. i wanted to go home.
I waited in the hospital for 3 days waiting for an mri. the hospital i was in was having their mri worked on so i was taken by ambulance to another hospital. by the time i got back to my bed, there was another stretcher waiting for me, the doctor said i had had multiple strokes and not ms.
i had to go right away for a brain angiogram. as god is my witness i will never have a brain angiogram again without loads of sedation. wow that hurt alot. buddy told me he would do the basilar artery first, if it was ok then he would stop, but if there was something not right he would continue.
well after about 10 injections of dye i had come to the conclusion he was either trying to see how tough i was or there was something very wrong.
within a few minutes of returning to my room the doctor was there to explain the films. my right vertebral artery was a mess, it is skinny and not working at all.
my basilar artery has a 60% narrowing in it. there is an artery that connects to the top of the basilar (carotid something or other) that provides a backwash of blood to the basilar artery if need be. in my case for some reason it is not connected there. they called it an unfortunate combination. so i was put on an
heparin pump for 8 days with coumadin pills. also given blood pressure and choloestrial pills even though that was not a problem, it was to ensure it never would be.
i was still crying at everything but didnt know it was an affect of the strokes, i was also laughing when i shouldnt have been. rather i cry, i just look sad, when i was laughing i looked like a lunatic!
i stayed for 2 weeks in the hospital and i was desparate to go home. they said i needed rehabilition. so off i went, 4 months in rehab.
im home now since january 01. still not walking.i have full use of my left hand although somewhat uncorrdinated. my legs are wierd, one is still numb and the other feels like jello. i have no balance from the damage in my cerebellum. im not choking too much anymore and can eat most things. i have a small memory problem and i distract very easily.
within a few minutes of returning to my room the doctor was there to explain the films. my right vertebral artery was a mess, it is skinny and not working at all.
my basilar artery has a 60% narrowing in it. there is an artery that connects to the top of the basilar (carotid something or other) that provides a backwash of blood to the basilar artery if need be. in my case for some reason it is not connected there. they called it an unfortunate combination. so i was put on an
heparin pump for 8 days with coumadin pills. also given blood pressure and choloestrial pills even though that was not a problem, it was to ensure it never would be.
i was still crying at everything but didnt know it was an affect of the strokes, i was also laughing when i shouldnt have been. rather i cry, i just look sad, when i was laughing i looked like a lunatic!
i stayed for 2 weeks in the hospital and i was desparate to go home. they said i needed rehabilition. so off i went, 4 months in rehab.
im home now since january 01. still not walking.i have full use of my left hand although somewhat uncorrdinated. my legs are wierd, one is still numb and the other feels like jello. i have no balance from the damage in my cerebellum. im not choking too much anymore and can eat most things. i have a small memory problem and i distract very easily.
all in all i count myself very lucky to come out the way i have.
i still get auras, but not as much. i also get numbness and tingling alot. im always afraid it happening again but doc says it a short circuit in my brain stem. im maxed out on the drugs i can take, im also now taking a vaso dialator, anti coagulant, anti platelet etc.
my next step is stenting the basilar artery and perhaps my one working vertebral artery. as the risks are so high for that, it was decided by moi not to go forward with that yet.
told ya it was long..LOL
thanks for listening yours eyes must be killing you now from reading all this.
janet
told ya it was long..LOL
thanks for listening yours eyes must be killing you now from reading all this.
janet
