I had a Stroke... of luck?

Okay so it's time for me to sit down and start processing my life over the last 6 days... It has not at all been anything that I would have ever expected for me, and I am still very much in the processing and middle of figuring things out. But here goes. 

Friday April 12th in the morning, Dave went out to early morning basketball. I got up early to shower and was literally thinking to myself in the shower, "Man. I've been feeling so good lately. I've been looking good. I'm probably the most fit I've been. I feel so good mentally. I feel like everything is falling into place. This is going to be a great week!" HA!!! Comedy.

About an hour later, the kids are up and eating breakfast and whatever downstairs. I snuck off to go to the bathroom (I have to sneak or else Eva follows me). After a couple minutes on the toilet, I stand up and go to wash my hands. Suddenly (literally out of absolutely nowhere), my whole left arm gets completely tingly and goes numb and I drop the soap. *This is where I realize how quickly the brain can think and process things. A million things within half a second*. I have had a brachial plexus nerve injury which affected some similar areas and I thought maybe it flared up very intensely and randomly for some reason. 

Before I have a chance to complete that thought, the exact same thing happens to the left side of my face. MY FACE! Straight down the middle of my mouth/cheek. Right up to the top of my cheekbone. Intense tingles followed by numbness. My immediate thought was, "Shit. I am having a stroke." I went to the mirror to self-assess (FAST). My face didn't look droopy, but it didn't feel regular. My arms both raised, but I noted that I had dropped the soap. My speech didn't seem slurred, but how could I know when there were no witnesses. 

That's the second I clued in that Shit... The kids are downstairs and there are no other adults around and I have no idea what's about to happen. My body started to go into panic mode and I don't know if the next set of symptoms are from whatever was going on or from the actual "episode". I finally got a hold of Dave and as soon as he heard my voice he dropped everything and sped home. I made it downstairs and weakly sat down to tell Dom, "Hey... Mommy's not feeling right in my body. Something is wrong. If Mommy falls over or something, I need you to go get Kirstin." These poor kids. That must have scared them so much. Dom remained very calm and attentive and took everything in logically which I appreciate. 

I made my way over to the couch and the intense symptoms had started to subside. I had some feeling in my arm and hand as well as in my face. Sort of like when the freezing at the dentist is wearing off. I focused on my breathing and remaining calm until we could get another adult home. I didn't know if I was going to have a seizure or something - just had no idea what was going on. All I knew is that something was very wrong. 

I remembered (as if this wouldn't have been my absolute first thought) that my sister-in-law Aly is a Stroke Neurologist and has a Women's Health Clinic. Maybe I should text her! We texted back and forth and she asked a few questions and then she said, "Don't panic, but go to the ER." Then I panicked haha. I knew I couldn't drive myself there, and Dave wasn't home yet. I called my Mom who didn't answer 3 times because her phone was on the counter. Then I called Dad who picked up right away, heard my voice and I said Dave was on his way home and had to take me to the hospital because (fill in brief story). He dropped everything at work an zipped over as fast as he could. 

In the meantime, I called the kids over to the couch to show them how to work my phone. I was having less of an impending sense of doom at that moment, and could calmly explain how to use it in any sort of emergency. If my phone is locked, how to call 911, Dad, Oma, Opa, where to see our address, etc. What to tell the 911 people... Dom again blew me away with how he sat and absorbed this information. Emilia wasn't so sure what to do. She was somewhere between giggling and bouncing off the walls, panickily trying to finish making everyone's breakfast, and hiding under the counter. Eva figured sitting on my head and trying to brush my hair was what was needed. 

Dave made it home and at this point I was able to be up and moving around, albeit cautiously because I didn't know what caused everything and just knew it wasn't right. We packed a day bag for the hospital Emerg and as soon as Dad showed up he brought the kids to school and we went to Langley ER.

On our way, Aly called to see how I was doing, do a little verbal assessment and was saying things like "TIA" and "mini-stroke". I was in shock. I felt fine. I felt okay by this point. Other than some numbness in my arm/hand and face. No headache. No confusion. Nothing like that. 

Anyway, we make it to Emerg and everything feels a lot less urgent because like I say, I'm feeling a lot better. I got some blood work and an ECG and a few physical assessments all of which I passed because I didn't have any loss of strength, coordination, etc. Passed all the stroke tests. The only thing I had going for me was my word. Something happened. It wasn't right, and I still have numbness in my left arm/hand and face. The nurses at the hospital were wonderful. 

Eventually I got called in to see the Dr. I will spare his name because I don't want to drag him through the mud too much, but he was an absolute tool. I don't like to judge people on first impressions, so I'll judge him on his behaviour throughout the assessment. He wheeled into the assessment room with an air about him. An air of "another young healthy woman freaking out about nothing." He asked me about my symptoms, and focused on the fact that I was passing the neurological tests now and everything seemed fine now (which is what happens with a TIA/mini-stroke). He asked me for my story and when I got to the part where I had to go talk to the kids he laughed and said, "Oh ho! Mommy's having a stroke!" And when he found out I have been taking Wellbutrin for many years he tilted his head to the side and said, "ah... anxiety." Like that answers what's going on. NO!

I told him my sister-in-law is a stroke neurologist at VGH and I talked to her this morning and his words were, "If I were to call your sister-in-law and explain that I have a healthy female patient in her 30's saying she had your symptoms she would laugh and say go home." Are. You. Freaking. Kidding. Me. I said, "Actually, she's the one who sent me here, and if you have a problem, you can call her." I should have demanded he call the Stroke Dr. on-call, because she was also in the loop and had a care plan for me if my case was brought her way. 

The Dr. suggested they refer me to outpatient care at the Jim Pattison Neurology Clinic and I be on my way. I told him, "I am not leaving without imaging." To which he said ok. 

Within 15 minutes I had a head CT done and then we waited for 2 hours for the results and plan. The results from the head CT came back clear, but even if it was a mini-stroke (TIA), that's not unexpected, because many of the symptoms had cleared by then. TIA's often last only for a few minutes, with symptoms waning throughout the day and being completely gone in 12-24 hours. I knew that what happened to me wasn't normal. The Dr. came back to discharge us and told us our plan. He'd talked to a neurologist (who does epilepsy... not stroke??) at Surrey and was told I'd need to get an MRI. So I'll get called to book an MRI, and then follow up with my family Dr. Goodbye. 

I had been told by Aly what she (and the on-call stroke Dr.) would do if a patient came in with these symptoms and what the care plan would be and this did not exactly line up, so I picked up some Aspirin on the way home and started taking baby Aspirin effective immediately. 

I kept being asked by people if they thought anxiety could have caused my symptoms. My answer was always no. This was not anxiety related. My gut told me something different, bigger, was going on. 

I did a lot of googling and while I remained really (surprisingly) pragmatic about everything, I was entirely freaked out. TIA's are essentially "mini-strokes", but are often called "warning strokes", which means you're at very high risk of a big one in the next 48 hours, and high risk still in the next 4-7 days. We didn't even know if it was this at that point, but there were enough signs pointing that direction that I spent a lot of time in the next 48 hours dissociating and putting energy into Eva's birthday party and just trying to enjoy my time and controlling what I could control. 

By Saturday, I was back to feeling completely normal. Everyone was asking, "how are you doing?" I'm like "Physically... completely fine. Mentally I'm tortured." Haha... I didn't want to tell too many people because I still had no idea what was going on. I was waiting for a call to book my MRI, something really weird happened in my body yesterday and it was incredibly scary. I am afraid to be alone. Please don't leave me alone with my kids. That's all I knew at that time. 

Sunday I kept busy with church and Eva's birthday party. Being distracted was good.

On Monday I got the call to come back to Langley for my MRI at 9pm. Sold. I'll be there. The MRI was a super sensory experience. The tech warned me it would be loud, and gave me those shitty foam ear plugs. They were hardly in my ears, and I gotta say... it was LOUD! Someone had told me they fell asleep during their MRI once and I was literally fighting back laughter because how the heck does anyone sleep through that! Impossible. 
Spoiler - I had a second MRI a couple days later and at that one, they provided big ear muffs to wear over the ear plugs and that made a WORLD of difference and I day-dreamed away in there. 

Anyway, The tech told me to expect results in a week or so at my dr. appointment. I was hoping that maybe I'd get results sooner. I heard late Tuesday that Langley had marked the MRI as clear. I didn't know what I was hoping for, but I was sort of hoping for something. I wanted an answer as to what happened. Will it happen again. It was scary. It wasn't nothing. It was my word against the medical community. I was able to get a second opinion and a radiologist at VGH reviewed the MRI and flagged what appeared to be a small TIA in the upper right hemisphere of my brain. I got a call with an... invite/strong suggestion to come to VGH that night (Tuesday night) to be admitted to neurology for further testing and monitoring. 

Everything happened very fast from that moment on. Dave and I quickly packed a couple bags for me to spend 1-2 nights in a hospital and Dad came to chauffer me down there. I didn't know what was going to be happening, but it was feeling very scary to me that I was being called to come in. It was going to be a lot faster and more effective to be admitted and get all the testing in the world in a day or two as opposed to going through outpatient and having days or weeks between tests, so for that I was grateful and understood the plan. 

I went through triage quickly as I was being expected and I had no symptoms at the time. They did some bloodwork, and we were able to review my MRI images so they could show me where the suspected stroke was. It was very tiny, and the image wasn't entirely conclusive, but it was enough to come in and get to the bottom of it. Wow. What a fricking ride. They also explained that nothing else scary showed up on the MRI. No masses, no signs of MS, so that much was good. (Not often you get to have a random scan of your brain...)

While I was in emerg I was whisked away for a CT Angiogram. That's a CT to look at my blood vessels to see if there are any clots or signs of risk kicking around. At the end they inject a dye that makes you feel hot and like you're peeing yourself. They warned me about the heat. They did not warn me it would feel like I peed myself. I learned for next time haha. The results from this came back clear. "Vessels normal"

They made sure not to make me wait around too much, and I was put in an emerg bed in a quiet room in the back until a bed was open up in the Neuroscience ward. I felt calm... I felt like I was in the best place. At about 1130pm I was notified there was a bed up in Neuro for me. I was taken upstairs. The unit is not very used to seeing young healthy asymptomatic people up there, so I felt a little bit silly crawling in and out of bed and walking around all on my own. People kept following me around with their arms out ready to catch me. I had to do tons of neurologic testing for strength, coordination, etc. I had to do a swallow test before I could have a midnight snack, etc. (I was starving and they brought me a HUGE midnight snack. I could only eat half of it, but was incredibly grateful). I was in a shared room with 3 other women, but they were sleeping and it was relatively quiet. I dozed in and out from 130-330 (maybe... I closed my eyes anyway), and then they did my vitals one more time at 345am and I slept from 4-6 solid before shooting awake at the exact time my alarm would normally go off. 

Wednesday. Good thing I cancelled spin for Wednesday morning even before I got the call to come to the hospital. I brought my work computer so I could answer some emails and stuff because I expected a lot of down time and waiting time. I didn't know what the plan was for the day. As it turns out, I didn't have as much waiting around time as I thought. I went from test to test to test to test, etc. all day. 

Around 8am they brought breakfast and I continued to have nurses come in to get tests done and checks done often. Blood sugar, neuro tests, vitals, etc. 

At 9:30 I was brought for an Echocardiogram with bubbles. This procedure is a regular echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart), and then after the tech got all the images he needs, a cardiologist comes in and used my IV to inject an agitated saline solution that had tiny bubbles in it.

The reason for this Echo, is that... okay. So everyone is born with a little hole in their heart, and in most people it seals itself up naturally. There is a percentage of people where it doesn't seal, and remains tiny and often asymptomatic. (Any nurse or medical friends out there, forgive me if my terminology or understanding is not 100% correct). I think this is called a shunt or Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) (they threw a lot of terminology around), and it allows the blood to communicate between the atriums. The idea is that they pump the bubbly saline solution into my veins through an IV. In a typical, healthy situation, you'd see the bubbles enter the right atrium & ventricle, and then they'd go through the pulmonary artery, be filtered out by the lungs, and you'd see no bubbles in the left atrium/ventricle. What they expected to see was some bubbles seeping through the septum between the right and left atria, indicating the presence of a PFO. 

The test did not clearly display this result, but there were definitely bubbles in the left atrium/ventricle which was weird. We could see the bubbles coming from the pulmonary vein. Somehow blood was not being filtered by the lungs and was getting back into the left side of my heart to be pumped to the body. They were perplexed to the point they had to do it twice. There's still a chance that there is a small hole in the heart that the echo couldn't pick up because of the interference of the ribs causing an unclear picture. For that reason, I received an urgent referral for a transesophageal echocardiogram. Fun. They put a scope down your throat and ultrasound your heart from the inside, without all the rib interference. The Dr. told me to expect to wait at least a week for this. As it turns out, I got a call yesterday (Thursday) and it is scheduled for this morning at 10:30 at VGH. People wait months for this test... Everything is just moving SO quickly. What a blessing. 

*Aside: It is so freaking cool watching this echo and watching the test take place on the ultrasound. My little valves looked like they were clapping and cheering me on haha. That's what I kept imagining anyway.*

Dr. Gorman in Neuro came and talked to me about the results of the echo not showing what they were expecting to see, but still clearly showing that there is some right to left shunt somewhere. For that reason, they booked me in for an urgent lung CT, and I already had an MRI planned for later on. At this point I started feeling pretty overwhelmed and wouldn't you know it, someone noticed and a Clonazepam showed up for me. *Magic* Just the kind of magic I need in my life haha.

I was also sent for a leg ultrasound to ensure there weren't any clots sitting around in my legs waiting to be a problem. They were truly covering all their bases. I am so incredibly appreciative. 

At 1230 or so, Dave came to visit and hung out with me for the rest of the day as we were counting on discharge later on. Aly also happened to be coming by around that time and brought me a delicious lunch so I wouldn't have to eat the hospital food :). She was also able to answer some questions for us on a knowledgeable sister-in-law-basis since she wasn't on shift. It was great to see her and she reassured us again that we were doing the right thing being at the hospital and that it was good that everything was moving so quickly, and that everyone knows what they're doing (not that I had any doubt). The staff at VGH were all so wonderful. The techs explained everything they were doing in great detail and I always knew exactly what to expect. I felt in control even though I had no control over anything. The porters were friendly and efficient. The doctors I spoke to were knowledgeable and took the time to explain things and make sure I was comfortable. The nurses were of course very attentive too. 

At about 3pm a porter showed up to take me to my lung CT. He recognized me from the night before as he was also the one to take me to my CT angiogram. That night he looked at me and said, "I like your height." It was the most random compliment I ever received so we had a little chuckle about it when he picked me up this time too. This CT was similar to the CT angio, but I went feet-first into the tube instead of head-first. They told me it would take about 3 minutes, and then they'd inject the dye and I'd get that familiar warm feeling. They did the test, and pulled me out and I sat there for a few more minutes just waiting. Then they said they had to do it again which tipped me off that something must have showed up that they wanted to investigate further (similar to the echo with saline bubbles). They did the warmth again and I joked that I was fairly certain this time at least that I wasn't peeing my pants. 

I came back from this test and Dave and I just hung out waiting for results and killing time until my MRI. My dinner came right as the porter came to take me to my MRI. For some reason for this one they took me in my whole bed instead of one of the little hospital stretcher gurney beds. The nurse brought me an Ativan because why not, and off I went to my MRI. As I "spoiled" above, this MRI was a much different experience than my first one a couple days earlier! They gave me the ear plugs and I was ready for the intense jack-hammer noises all around my head. They gave me a giant pair of ear muffs with headphones built in so that they could communicate with me. The MRI took about 20 minutes, and they explained how long each stage would take through the headphones so I knew what to expect. The sounds were much less abrasive and I found myself daydreaming through it. I wasn't ready for it to be over. To some it may be claustrophobic, to me it was cozy (maybe that was the lack of sleep and Ativan talking). 

We were counting on me being discharged that evening as long as nothing crazy came out of the lung CT and MRI. There was an emergency that the Dr. had to attend to so my reports took quite a long while to be read. It was around 8pm when we finally were talked to by a resident (who was also absolutely lovely). He came to give us our report and set up our discharge plan. He also showed us the MRI images and allowed me to take some pictures!

The results of the MRI were the same as the first MRI I had Monday night. A very small stroke visible in the upper right ventricle. Right in the area of the brain responsible for sensation on the left side of my body. CHECKS OUT! Biology is so cool. And I am so lucky that it was small and didn't leave any lasting effects. 

Here's where the plot thickens. The lung CT showed that I have what's called a Pulmonary arteriovenous malformation (PAVM). What this essentially means (I think... I'm still trying to wrap my head around it), is that there is an area in my lungs where a pulmonary artery meets a pulmonary vein instead of going to the capillaries where lungs do their miraculous work of oxygenating our blood. This is a right-left shunt and allows the arterial blood to mix with the venous blood and go back into the heart through the pulmonary vein. What they think happened with me, is that there was a small clot that would normally be dealt with by the body in the lungs (I guess?), but it went through this PAVM and the clot went into my left atrium, left ventricle, and then was pumped out to my body. It just so happened to go to my brain and cause this small stroke. 

So essentially... this stroke was not the event. The stroke was a symptom of something completely different going on. I am being referred to a Respirologist, so I'm very much looking forward to learning more about what this means. It is apparently a genetic malformation that you have right from birth, but it often doesn't cause any impact/symptoms until adulthood (most often for females in their 30's-40's). I have not experienced any of the other symptoms that typically accompany PAVM. Stroke is a rare side effect apparently, but that's how we discovered it. Common symptoms are nose bleeds, coughing up blood, and shortness of breath when exercising. I have been experiencing on and off chest pain the last few weeks. It's minor (2/10), but it's there. I've been assuming it's due to anxiety, reflux, or need for chiro or something. Now I'm wondering if it has anything to do with everything that's happening in my body. I'll ask the next Dr. I talk to. 

PAVM most often occurs in people who have something called Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT). I also don't have any of the signs for that other than having this PAVM. So I don't know if there's a test for that or if I'm just some medical anomaly. 

This is a lot to process. There are still a lot of unanswered questions and medical jargon and things I'm learning. I am not living at this moment with fear which is more than I can say for earlier this week, so that's a major relief. 

In total I have received:

• 3 ECG's
• 2x bloodwork
• Head CT
• 2x MRI
• CT Angio
• Echocardiograph with saline bubbles
• Lung CT
• Transesophageal echocardiogram (on Friday)

I do not even want to think about how much this all would have cost me if I was living in the states. A life-changing amount I'm sure.

My discharge plan from the hospital is... 

- Follow up with Dr. Gorman in Neurology clinic at VGH

- Referral to Respirologist
- Transesophageal Echocardiogram 

- Take extra blood thinners for 20 days, and then continue with 81mg Aspirin until I'm told to stop 

I think this journey is far from over. The PAVM (though reportedly small) may require fixing since it's lead to a (small/minor) stroke. The blood thinners I'm on will hopefully prevent any further strokes from occurring. We will see what comes from the procedure tomorrow and the respirology follow-up. 

Never did I ever see this coming. I went from "Man I'm feeling amazing!" to having stroke symptoms within an hour. I have had more medical procedures, tests, etc. in the last week than I have in my entire life. 

I had jokingly wished for a hospital vacation sometime (as most Moms do... don't judge me), but I did not expect this. Once I got over the fact that I was scared and anxious out of my mind, I did appreciate the food just appearing in front of me, the nurturing and doting, and the endless amounts of attention just on me though if I'm being honest. 

There are a lot of "What If's". 

• What if I didn't text Aly when I first had the symptoms and didn't go to ER because they mostly resolved quickly?
• What if I hadn't advocated for myself at the ER with that tool Dr. 
• What if I hadn't decided to take Aspirin even though the ER Dr. did not suggest it? 
• What if I hadn't had the MRI looked at by another radiologist and I went to my family Dr. on Friday where it was reported the MRI was clear and they took me off Aspirin? 

Those what ifs all have a similar grim , life-changing possible ending and it's crazy to think about. 
Whether or not you believe in God, you have to acknowledge that someone or something was looking out for me during this journey. 

How's my mental health? (This will be a ramble)

Well... I don't really know. Everything has happened so fast I feel like I'm still processing things from days ago. Every so often I'll suddenly think about how scary it was when I had the stroke and all the feelings around that and how it scared the kids. I relive the actual sensations I had, but there is less of that now that it is confirmed that I did have a stroke event. I did it a lot when there was no medical evidence and it was just my word/experience I had to go on. Reliving each and every second to make sure I wasn't making it up. 

I now know I wasn't making anything up.

Then I am still processing the days of fear after the initial event where I was very aware of the high possibility of a stroke, very aware of my own mortality, and very aware of how significantly peoples' lives change when strokes occur sometimes. (Not all the time of course, and maybe not even most of the time, but I've seen a lot of the worst case scenarios). 

Then I am processing the part where I found out there is evidence of a stroke on the MRI. As much as I knew it, it was a relief in some ways, and terrifying in others. I didn't know what to feel. Almost justified? Proud of myself for advocating and listening to my body? 

Then I am processing the relative rush to a far hospital for an overnight stay with a lot of unknowns, and a LOT of tests. What exactly were we looking for? Why did I have a stroke? I am so young and healthy. I have zero predictors/risk factors. I have no lasting symptoms. Is this silly? Am I broken? Will they find the cause? Will I just have to live in fear forever? 

Then I am processing all the results. At this point I haven't gotten to the emotion part of the tests and results. I am still processing the facts. Learning as much as I possibly can about all the conditions, terms, treatments, etc. Information makes me more comfortable. Even when it's hard to hear information. 

Every so often the emotions peek out and I cry a little, but I haven't had "the big one" yet. Maybe I won't. I am very pragmatic and logical, and I do feel taken care of and "safe". A lot of this has been fear of the unknown, but also reminding myself not to fear what I do not know. I've been trying to take it moment to moment, control the things I can control, and trust others with the things I can't. 

I am nervous for the transesophageal echocardiogram today. Nervous that the procedure will be uncomfortable mostly. Also, I have a bit of a sore throat/cough (I have for days, something I picked up from the kids), and I'm nervous that will be an issue. I'm not particularly nervous about the results, because the PAVM is "worse" than a PFO anyway. They do occasionally occur together though. 

I am eager to touch base with the Respirologist. I don't know what to expect there, but I want to learn more. 

I find I am overall very introspective. I am in my own little world trying to process what I can figure out to process, trying to allow myself to have the feelings, trying to not overreact about things. This can be hard back at home with the kids and the house and the dog. I'm trying to let go of some things. There have been some people who have brought us meals and that is beyond appreciated. I feel like the one thing I really just don't have the brain power for right now is feeding people, so this has had a huge impact. We have enough meals for another two dinners I think, and then hopefully I'll be able to get back on track a little bit. 

It's weird because I feel so physically normal, but I know my insides have their own thing going on. I know I am taking preventative meds so that a stroke doesn't (shouldn't) occur. It's hard to explain how I'm feeling. Physically, 100% (other than this little cough/cold). Mentally, I have no idea. 

Dave has been incredibly supportive and patient with my being introspective. He doesn't have the same desire to learn everything there is to know about everything there is going on (which is funny, because he does love to research and learn about things (Enneagram 4W5), but I imagine he's still processing things in his own way too. There have been some very triggering moments for him from... well 3 years ago today actually! When I was in the hospital 3 days after having Eva with secondary postpartum hemorrhaging and there was poor communication with the nursing/doctor team and Dave, and he thought he was going to lose me as he sat there with our 3 day old baby taking a bottle for the first time. 

Other than that, we'll talk as things come up, as results come to us, and as we find out if/what treatment is needed. 

For all I know, the only change in my life from all of this is that I will be on Aspirin for the foreseeable future. For all I know I could need some sort of procedure or surgery to fix a shunt. For all I know they're going to discover something else going on in my body that doesn't line up haha. It's all just so bizarre. Wild. 

If you made it this far, Impressive! I had thoughts of taking nice pictures to document the journey, but mostly what I got were horrible selfies. It is what it is!

First ER visit in Langley.

The huge chair in the Dr. Assessment room at Langley.

Back for the MRI at 9pm on April 15

Super sexy MRI fit

Thanks for driving me in Dad!

My first little spot in emergency when they got me a little bed there.

Figured I'd be there for a bit so I thought I'd try to close my eyes. Allllmost fell asleep just as they came to take me upstairs.

My IV bothered me the entire visit. Right in the elbow crease which I know is normal, and the best spot for them. It's not ideal for me when I'm still completely mobile and like to curl my arms up when I sleep haha. 

Much more spacious area in Neuro and much more comfortable bed. 

I was hungry, so they brought me 1.5 tuna sandwiches, a yogurt, a milk, an orange juice, apple juice, and cheese and crackers. 

This is literally all I expected.

And this is how I knew to ask for food haha. Thank you Aly!

I even got a bed by a window!

I said if I pretended that gravel roof was a pool I could imagine I was in Mexico.

The look of very very little sleep.

Breakfast was welcome. The coffee was not great, but it was also very necessary and appreciated.

My heart. Everything happened after the kids went to bed on Tuesday, so they woke up and had no idea I was gone. It's normal for me to be gone on Wednesdays because I spin and then go to work, but Dave filled them in a little bit on the situation and that I was at the hospital. Apparently Dom shoots up and says, "I know what happened! I know what's wrong!" He ran upstairs to get our Human Body book, confidently opened a page to the nervous system, and found a picture of a Motor Neuron that has a gap in it (top right page) and pointed. "This is what happened!"

Third ECG of the week

If I got up out of bed I could get a view of the mountains and downtown a little farther to the left. Tough to capture on the camera though. 

I don't remember what this was... I think waiting for my leg ultrasound. After sitting in the hallway literally twiddling my thumbs for 20 minutes waiting for my echocardiogram in the morning I grabbed my phone for the US.

And the fatigue and feelings kick in for a bit.

Reunited!! It was so nice having Dave there. I actually fell asleep for a bit. I think I was able to sleep because I wasn't worrying about someone needing me for something. He could just wake me up if I was needed. 

The hospital lunch was not looking appetizing, but Aly brought the most delicious peach and brie grilled sandwich with chips and salad for me. That's more like it!!
(I wish I had taken some better pictures... oh well. I was distracted)

Aly got us this booklet "Stroke In Young Adults". Just a little light reading for us to page through :|

We found a goose nesting below our window. They had 6 eggs they were keeping warm. What a good little Mommy or Daddy :)

We tried to watch the Office, but I don't think we made it very far before I was needed by the hospital people again.

Resident showed us the MRIs. Here's my brainnnnnnn an my eyeballs... 

How often do you get to look at your brain?! Cool Cool Cool.

Hard to see. Was easier to see on the first MRI, but if you zoom in, just where the mouse is pointing to on the left side of the image there's a light spot. That's the tiny stroke apparently. 

Then the Dr. told me he could give me something to freak the kids out. Creepyyyyy!!! 

My little pharmacy...