Thanks, Management. (Formerly Talktalk}

The Many Adventures of Kym, episode 732

So yeah.

Here's what happened yesterday, from my perspective.

I had a headache since Friday, off and on. People who saw me Friday may recall that it was hurting really bad in my right eye. But when I took my contacts out, that helped a little.

The first grade was outside from about 1:30-2:00. My headache/eye twitch/eye pain was intensifying, but was tolerable. At 2:00, I leave the first grade and head back to the self-contained unit for awhile. Well, my plan was to go in there, get my purse, and pop some Excedrin. As soon as I left the playground and walked inside, the pain was worse, but it wasn't like any other headache I've had. It was concentrated in my right eye. More behind the eye than in it.

So, I go into the classroom where three teachers are. I try to say "I need to take some Excedrin" and waht comes out is...nothing. I didn't realize that I couldn't talk until I tried to talk. Then, I noticed that I couldn't swallow.

The blur starts here. Dee, the lead teacher, sent two of the teachers out to recess with the rest of the kids, and took me over to the nurse. Sharon, the first grade teacher I'm with everyday, saw what was happening. Someone got me a dry erase board so I could explain my symptoms. At this point, I'm annoyed but not scared. Then, I couldn't make my hand write!!! It was like this: I could think the thoughts, but not speak them. I could think about the letters, but couldn't make my hand write them.

The school nurse thought I was having stroke like symptons, and at this point I'm thinking maybe so too, except I'm completely present of mind. Deb, the school nurse, had me squeeze her hands and my right side was weak. Everything that was happening was all in my right side. Except my throat, it just could NOT swallow well at all.

The squad comes, I get in, I take my dry erase board with me. I love teachers! Anyway, as I was in the squad, my hand came back just a little, but as it came back, my right arm started tingling more.

The ER nurses were sooooooo nice. I got to go in first with no waiting. Guess that strokes in thirtysomethings are somewhat high on the priority list. Anyway, had a CT scan within the first fifteen minutes of being there. Normal. My coworker, Jan, ended up following the ambulance and had called my mom and Jay to make arrangements for the kids and all that. CT scan was normal. The ER doc and nurses were just awesome, waiting on me to write messages. I thought fuck it, and had switched to writing left handed.

Meantime, Jay arrives. He and Jan sit in the ER with me.

The ER doc asked if I had any pain. That was the first time I had even given any thought to my headache. That was secondary to me up until then! I wrote "yes, head" and he asked if I suffered migraines. I wrote "sometimes". Oh yeah, and somewhere in there I had been able to get across my weekend of neck stiffness/eye pain/etc. etc. The ER doc, Dr. Rudy, ordered strong pain meds. In the meantime, I had an EKG and IV and many other medical abbreviations, it seems.

Then, suddenly, after I had felt the warm glow of the Nubain, my brain said "I think I can try talking" and I said "Jan", and it came out pretty normal. Wild!! After that, for a few minutes, everything I said was a bit delayed. As in, I thought it, then it came out slowly. The ER doc now tells me that he thinks that I have a condition called "complex atypical migraine". However, he wants me to stay in the hospital overnight and have an MRI.

Had MRI, it was over in fifteen minutes. Dee had stopped by to see me.

Got into room and see that sweet, 19 year old roomie is really, really ill. My kids and mom come by. My principal comes by.

Jay came back with food. Chipotle!! We went to eat in the little lobby, cause Brit (roomie) was really nauseous. Diana, Teri and Wanda come in to see me and bring me little goodies! I ate like a pig!

Meanwhile, I decided that I was feeling way too damn good to sleep with Typhoid Brit for the night, so I started petitioning the nurses to page my doctor. I was somewhat cheerily annoying, I think. However, my tactics worked.

The doc, who is a doc in the practice where I go, came in around 9:45. We talked and he said that if my MRI came back normal, he'd let me go with orders to rest all weekend and follow up with my regular doc on Monday. He did think that I have the complex migraine condition, which can mimic stroke symptoms. Interestingly, the migraines can cause different symptoms at different times. Weird!

Anyway, by 10:30, the MRI came back normal, and I went home!

A huuuuuuuuuuge thanks to:
The school personnel for thinking quick, arming me with a dry erase board, and informing my kids in a calm way that I was sick, but not super sick
Jay, for being the backbone of my life and bringing me supplies and food
My friends, for caring about me and partying with me in the hospital

Posted by Kym at April 25, 2008 01:23 PM