On The Mind Mend Again

I had a headache unlike any other I've experienced. However it truly did not live up to the description of my MS Spinal Tap Family & Friends description, so I assumed it could not be that. With mine, sitting up was fine. Staying cool was fine. Walking and getting over heated...not so much. It hurt, made me feverish and sweaty and nauseous.

After some Tylenol and my first IV Steroid infusion it went away. I thought it was still my tension headache. I was wrong. I became hot, clammy and the headache started booming in my head. I wen to the bathroom and grabbed ibuprofen, walked to kitchen took it with water. I looked down and noticed my elbows were sweating. My elbows, at the inside bend. My head was sweating. I opened the freezer and grabbed an ice pack so I could go sit down and cool off. Closed the freezer door, put the ice pack on my neck and my legs buckled and my lights went out and I hit the kitchen floor. I was only out for a second or 2 cause I remember thinking that the a/c just l kicked on and the kitchen vent was now blowing right on me. Good, right?

I hear my daughter, Kristina age 9, say " Mom, did you just fall?" Me "I'm ok." K walks in. "Do you want me to call someone?" Me "Not yet. Can you gt the bigger ice pack and put it on my back , please?" I'm lying face down" K "O..kaay. Sure. I can go get someone too." She puts ice pack on me. Paul age 6 comes in. He rubs my back. "Are you ok?" Me "Yes Sweetie. My head hurts. I need to cool down my body first. Paul "I can run fast." Me "I know, Baby. Just give me a sec."

They leave to go clean up their Legos for a min. She comes back. K "Should I get someone now?" Me. Not yet. Ass long as i am talking to you, we can wait. If I stop talking you can call someone. Wait, if I stop talking then you go get someone. One of the neighbors off our trusted list on the fridge." (They know what I am doing this week so they can help.) She says ok and goes to finish her cleaning.

She comes back. K "Still talking Mom?" Me "Yes. I'm cooler now." I roll over onto my side. I ask Kristina to look in my oven and check the chicken cause the timer is going off. She describes how it looks so I tell her how much longer to put on the timer. I tell her how to finish the dinner. I sit up to stir some potatoes in a bowl on the floor. I lay down. When the chicken is ready to come out, she hands me oven mitts and I pull out the chicken and put in the potatoes. Otherwise, she finishes. I roll onto my back and text my sister, Shelly. She asked 5 mins before all of this happened if she should stop by. I was doing ok then. She calls me and asks what I'm doing. I tell her laying on my kitchen floor. She's mad, but really worried. She comes over and gets me to the couch recliner. Talks to me and gets us all fed and kids bathed. She does the dishes and gets me and the kids to my bed to watch a movie. (Oh in the mist of all of this manages to let my husband know what is going on.) Amazing as always, Shelly! (She has always been my mini-me hero. I try to tell her, to use her gift wisely enough that she doesn't lose herself. At first her balance shifted too far both ways. I think she is starting to find a little more balance. She makes me proud)

Before I go to bed I call my boss to let him know I had a little set back, but I am still going to attempt the paper route. The same thing happens while I'm delivering, except the passing out part. I become hot and nauseous and the headache grows with each step. I finish over half, but I have to stop. I call him to tell him where I will leave my papers for him to finish. I will let him know what the doctor says.

I had IV infusion today and asked to see Pain Mgt Specialist who did my spinal tap. He listens to my symptoms and I tell him I followed his rules: 48 hrs flat, lots of water and add in caffeine. He says sometimes the body doesn't cooperates and apologizes. Nice. I like a doctor who does that, but I told him it isn't his fault either. Both of us did what we were supposed to do. He says, I don't present with a typical spinal headache because sitting up and cool temp, no headache. Standing and walking headache. We both agree to a Blood Patch. A Blood Patch is when the doctor takes my own blood and reinserts the needle where the spinal tap was done. Deep into that tissue. The idea is the body didn't naturally clot, or in my case, clot enough to close the hole so spinal fluid may still be leaking. if my own blood is inserted the theory is my own blood will encourage and begin the clot.

So I had the Blood Patch after my infusion. Doctor said most people feel relief almost instantly. He said if that isn't the case this could be some crazy MS thing and the steroids should help. He said he'd call Monday to check on me, but to call the after hours line if I need him sooner. I didn't have instant relief, but i had mostly. So far, the pain is minimal to none. I'm at the time where it all went horribly wrong yesterday. Hoping I stay far away from that incident. Sitting here is good, but we know that isn't the problem. For you, go with the no news is good news for now.

I have back up plans in place for the weekend work schedule if necessary to stay home and help for the work schedule if I feel ready to try. Either way, health first. Smiling again and ready to get back to my original mantra of "Keep Moving Forward"! So I am with a big hopeful smile on my face :) Try it!

My Brain & I Flat On Our Back

Here I am flat on my back, which frankly is worse than it sounds. I can't really tilt my head. Flat is just that. Flat. So I have the laptop at a weird angle so I can type and see what I'm doing. Which is mostly misspelling and using the backspace bar. This will be a short entry, as you can imagine.

I had my spinal tap today. Hence the lying on my back. Dr wants me this way for 48 hours. I know! I thought 24 hrs was bad enough. I'm not sure why 48 hrs vs 24 hrs. I did ask and he explained all the reasons for being flat. Basically, imagine punching a hole in a can of pop, but a pin hole size so it would drain slowly. That's what would be a visual for the spinal fluid and my body. Upright the fluid would continually drain slowly and eventually cause the dreaded spinal headache, which I hear is excruciatingly painful. If you turn, said pop can on it's side or flat the fluid would not drain out as quickly, if at all. ( I know I'm visualizing the pop coming out either way, but work with me here.) The idea is that gravity will work against my body's ability to not only replenish the spinal fluid it lost, but hinder the clotting process as well.

The longer I remain rested the quicker it can heal. As far as the longer time frame I can only conclude that because I am in a MS flare, that I would need more time to heal. Either way, I was not given a choice and was taken off work for 2 days. Not happy because as you can imagine, paper carriers do not get sick days. In fact, not only will my pay be lost, but a surcharge will probably be given. It's the nature of the business. Just would have planned ahead had I known. Anyways, health is a priority, so I will do as I am told. Well, for this anyway.

Tomorrow I am supposed to start IV Steroids, which I suppose will require me to not be completely flat for an hour or so. Who knows? The faster I can get the Flare healing the better. So I am straining my neck trying to see what I a writing so have to go. With that please remember my brain & I flat on our back working to find my smile a little more each day. It isn't hard right now. The humor of my predicament is quite amusing. :)