Thursday, August 15, 2013

Neurology Appointment

Today was a much better day than the past two days. I woke up and got to work and felt pretty decent overall. They didn't let me do anything, but holla to the CM who willingly did my job and laughed and talked with me (Cindy, that's your shout out!). Anyways, went to my neurology appointment.

Here's what happened.

First, he had me tell my whole store, starting from day one. By now, my story isn't nearly as detailed as what it used to be, so it didn't take as long. Which is good, because I'm really tired of the story. We looked at my MRI and he was very nice and explained everything to me, let me look at the MRI and the pictures of my brain and pointed out what was what.

When he tested my reflexes, I told him the first time, a few weeks back, they weren't strong, and he explained what that meant. And when he had me touch my finger to my nose, I told him the first few times I struggled, and he said "I  bet you couldn't really do it". I said no, I couldn't gauge where the finger was or where my nose was and I couldn't control my strength and slammed my finger on the side of my nose and it hurt! I loved that he guessed that and he understood.

He said it looks like there is slight heterogeneity with my pituitary gland, which is probably why I'm showing slight DI symptoms. Basically, my P-gland (which is responsible for all kinds of hormones being released into the body, such as telling your body when you need to pee) is bruised and it should heal, but it'll take time, that's why I'm drinking and peeing so much. But both have gone down! I'm down to about 96oz of water a day and bathroom averaging 5 times a day.

He said nothing is major and I should fully recover. Hallelujah, oh my geeze, that was the best news I had heard in almost my entire life.

Also, the neurologist said that it seemed like I was severely dehydrated and had a severe concussion. "You had a double whammy of severeness, that's why it's taking awhile, you really have had a traumatic injury" (actually, triple, with my broken nose, causing sinuses to kind of act up too). This explained why I passed out (which is what I was trying to tell the doctors in the first place and they kept saying I was really hydrated, but I'm going with the neurologist on this one. And it also explained why my symptoms were so much worse than an average person, even though I didn't have any brain bleeding or swelling.

He also said it was absurd and ridiculous that a doctor had even thought mental illness or drugs could have been involved, which eased me even more.

He did say though that I really have got to seriously slow down, even more so, and if I don't, school may actually be pushed back. So, my plan is going to work tomorrow morning, say bye, and then next week do as close to nothing as possible. I WANT TO BE BETTER BY SCHOOL, AUGUST 26.
As of now, that might not happen. But it's going to.

He gave the example of when driving stick shift and the car is neutral, you just have to let it coast. Otherwise, if you hit the gas, all it does is spin the wheels. He said, "Right now, your wheels are still spinning. You're slowing them down, but they aren't stopped yet. They have to stop for awhile and just coast".

At work, my supervisor and coworker sat with me and suggested I actually process this with someone. They made the point that, I am about to start my last year of graduate school and having to go into with it with a traumatic injury. And they said with everything else you have going on and all the stresses, make sure you're talking it out and really processing. They kind of called me out...again.

So basics:
-I have slight DI, but it should go away.
-I will recover fully.
-Nothing is super major or permanent.
-I have to slow down even more and may not be ready for really engaging in FT school and such.
-I had a really traumatic concussion.
-I should process.

Doc also confirmed that irritability is a strong sign of concussion and it should go away and that my fatigue will be the last symptom to go away. I asked him if he had any kind of timeline, and he said no. Which I expected. I told him his field needs to get on that and he laughed.

Also, it turns out his wife got her MSW from KU. That was cool to hear, so he better understood my courses and what challenges I was facing. 

2 comments:

  1. Hey Ash, I haven't been bugging you because I know you need to heal and I know that trying to keep people updated can be a major stressor when you really need to rest up and focus on you. I just wanted you to know that you have a ton of people, myself included, that love and support you and are here for you, however that looks. You're a champ and will get through this.

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  2. I like this neurologist guy a lot. I'm glad you are listening to what he says and focusing on coasting - that's going to be so good for you. It's going to be really tough, but I know you can do it. And you always have me. Love you, Applejack.

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