Tag: Stroke

The Unwanted Vacation

I had planned a very different post for today.  Instead, I am finally up and about after a long night.

Last night was a fairly normal night at work.  One of our labs needed an oxygen concentrator, so I put one of ours in my car and made the 30 minute drive there.  I dropped it off and returned to my lab.

I was sitting at the computer when I got this extremely strong pain in my neck and the back of my head.  Anytime I tried to look to the left, it got worse.  I turned and asked my coworker if I looked ok.  She said I did and asked why.  I told her and she began all the “heart attack/stroke” questions. 

She asked if I wanted to go to the ER and I said I was fine.  I turned around and began to work again.  8 minutes later I experienced a nauseating wave of dizziness. I told my coworker that maybe she should call.

The team all worked like clockwork.  One took my blood pressure, one waited for EMS, and the other called 911 and documented everything.

I felt like I was sweating, and my blood pressure was sort of high.  When EMS arrived they threw EKG leads on me and said something looked off.  My coworker said there was elevation in a couple leads.  They thought it might be a slight heart attack or mild stroke.

My coworker used my phone to call my wife.  She called her mom to come over and watch the kids and made the house drive to the hospital.  On the way she called my dad.

In the ambulance, they did an IV and asked a bunch of questions.  I guess there were things I remember and things I didn’t.  They got me right into a room at the ER.

I laid in there with occasional waves of pain in my neck and head.  They ran blood work and there was no indication of a heart attack.  Glucose was a little high but they said that was nothing to worry about.

I wound up getting a CT scan of the brain and neck, which apparently was normal. “We checked your brain and found nothing .. ” LOL

They put a lidocaine patch on my neck and gave me pain pills.  They discharged me shortly after.  They had run all the tests they could.  If anything changes, I’m to call ER or my primary doc, who I have to see in the next couple days.

So, my fun post will have to wait.  Meanwhile, the doc has me off work the rest of the week.  Not exactly the vacation I hoped for…..

Weekend Ride on the Emotional Rollercoaster of Life

It’s been a crazy past few days. On Friday, we took Andrew to the ENT to discuss the results of his sleep study. He has severe sleep apnea. Usually, this means that the tonsils or the adenoids need to come out to open up the airway. The doc took a look at his and said his tonsils were not too big and he didn’t think his adenoids were a problem either. So he did a scope in the office to look further.

The scope showed that he has laryngomalacia. This is something we are seeing more and more of in the sleep lab. Basically, there is extra tissue in the larynx.

This explains why his sleep is so crappy!! When he falls asleep, that floppy tissue blocks the airway.

Lateral view of child’s face showing blocked air flow caused by laryngomalacia.

So it looks like he will have some surgery to correct this in the near future. It will also mean 24-48 hours in the hospital. This will not be fun at all, as he loves to be on the go. I’m sure sitting in a room all day is not going to be pleasant at all! We are waiting on the hospital to call and schedule the surgery.

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My Godmother/cousin recently had a stroke. She is currently in hospice. I was able to see her over the weekend to say goodbye. It is never an easy thing to do. There were many people in the room, so I kept it pretty simple.

I’m not sure if it is just in Italian families or what, but at some point there was a stretch of years where certain members of the family didn’t speak to each other. I have no idea what it was about but I am sure that it was just stupid. Life is too short to lose that much time. This hits home a lot with my Godmother.

For years, I didn’t see her because of an argument that I wasn’t even a part of! Shortly after my grandmother passed away, my dad began to reach out to cousins that we hadn’t talk to. Thankfully, the peace was restored and I was reunited with my cousins.

I remember seeing her for the first time in forever and just hugging on her! I was so happy to see her. We spent a long time catching up. So many years lost to ridiculousness. So many things we both missed out on.

I am kicking myself because a week before, I was thinking about her and meant to call her and catch up. I never did. I regret that. I am grateful to have had a moment with her this weekend to tell her how much I love her.

My Godmother and me at Ella’s baby shower

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I’m not trying to make excuses, but I am an emotional eater. When I get stressed or worry – I snack. I made a lot of mistakes on my diet this week. I found myself grabbing goldfish crackers and “estimating” how many I had. We hadn’t gone grocery shopping, so almost all of the veggies were gone, so I snacked on crackers and stuff I shouldn’t have. I was completely ready to see a gain on the scale, but actually lost a pound this week. This brings my 10 week total weight loss to 30 pounds.

The heat and rain didn’t help much. It was hard to get my daily walks in last week.

30 pounds is progress and I am back on track. Sunday and Monday we got to go out and walk the neighborhood! Ella is making it a bit more difficult as she wants to walk instead of being in the stroller/wagon. He being out, does make it easy to get pictures, but she walks a LOT slower than I am used to.

A ray of morning sunshine

He puppy friend, Louie, was so excited to see her the other day he “ran” to the fence to say hello!

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I went to the store on Sunday and bought some new sand for Ella’s sandbox. We moved it to another part of the yard because where we had it, the sun beat down on it. We moved it to a shadier spot and both kids are playing in it. Andrew really doesn’t understand that the sand is not for eating … one would think that after the third time putting it in your mouth, you’d stop, right?!

The sandbox is just another example of how my kids will grow up to be best buddies. I love to watch them play together. I hope it stays warm for a while longer. I’m not sure just how they are going to handle being cooped up in the house all day in the winter.

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The range of emotions experienced this weekend was overwhelming. I’m hoping that things slow down and return to normal – whatever normal is!