A Crazy Two Weeks

Well, if I have not talked to you in two weeks you are probably unaware of some medical stuff that I am going through. On July 24th I started having trouble seeing out of my left eye. It was a complete blur in the middle, however, I still had some peripheral vision. I stopped wearing my contacts and using using eye drops since I occasionally get dry eye. On Tuesday, the 28th, which was Henry's birthday, I went to go see my optometrist. And the ride began

Tuesday - See optometrist for two and a half hours. Doc says my eye look fine and diagnosis's me with optic neuritis and says I must see a neurologist immediately.

Wednesday - See neurologist, he wants an MRI immediately.

Thursday - Have MRI. My parents come down from Taos to watch the kids while Henry and I deal with this.

Monday - Have follow-up with Neurologist for MRI results. We see that the optic nerve is inflamed and there are other inflammation. States it looks like I have multiple sclerosis. Schedules me for a Lumbar Puncture (aka Spinal Tap).

Tuesday - Have Spinal Tap. OMG - I equate the pain very close to Ryan's natural birth. I was in an amazing amount of pain. It was very traumatic. 2 hours, 2 doctors and 2 punctures to get the spinal fluid. Not doing that again.

Wednesday - Have follow-up with Neurologist for Lumbar Puncture. States spinal fluid looks good, ruled out any type of infection, and officially diagnosed me with Multiple Sclerosis. You know, Henry and I are okay with this. I had suspected something for a couple years and this is an answer. And, we will work through it.

Thursday - Begin IV steroids. I go to the hospital and get hooked up to an IV for an hour and get steroids to help with the optic neuritis. I start to have a terrible spinal headache from the Lumbar Puncture. Henry calls the neurologist and we schedule a blood patch to help with the headache.

Friday - After my IV steroids we go for the Blood Patch procedure. They hook me up to 2 IV's (I still have my steroid IV in) and the sedate me. Under X-ray, the found where the puncture was from the spinal tap. The draw blood from my arm and inject it into the puncture. I was there 4 hours and my headaches are gone! The other down side from the spinal tap is that I have to constantly lie on my back. That get old really quick.

Saturday - Last of the IV steroids! I am officially IV free! Only 24 more hours on my back and I should be good. Now off to work on Monday.

Henry has taken so much time off of work to be with me and my sister Cheryl has taken the kids constantly. Even Katie, my other sister has watched them at her work while Cheryl couldn't watch them. Thank you and love you all.

Oh yeah. Our camera broken so no new pics for a bit. Unless, I can get one tax free this weekend. I will have to look into that.