Day After the Hospital

When we left the hospital I was given a script for steroids, a business card for the local multiple sclerosis society and was told to follow up with my doctor.  Yep that was it.  No information on multiple sclerosis...we left only with more and more questions.  After Scott dropped me off at home he went and had my script filled.  However, because I was so sick that evening I thought it was pointless to take something that was just going to come right back up.  So I figured the next morning was a perfect time to start.

I must admit that the day after the hospital was the foggiest for me to remember.  I think I ate a little something for breakfast so I could take my steroids.  Thankfully my Mom was there so she could help get the girls ready for their first day of school and make them breakfast.  We went out to take pictures before they got on the bus. And by we I mean my Mom took all the pictures and I say on the step.  But hey I was at home for their first day I was not still in the hospital.  Mom walked the girls to the bus and I went in for a nap.  That is pretty much what I did that day.  I ate little bits of food.  My tummy was still not quite right, but I knew I needed to eat.  Scott called throughout the day to check on me.   I am so thankful Mom was there.  There was no way I could have taken care of my girls or me by myself yet.  I needed get stronger.

I did do some Google research on multiple sclerosis.  And well basically learned how to spell it.  Hahaha.  I did not do too much research because well I kinda thought if I learned about it then it would be "real".  I was not ready for that.  I could not really even talk about having MS without crying.  I knew this would get easier, but I was not at that point yet.  So if I did not answer any of your calls or respond to your emails around this time I am very sorry.  So instead of doing research I decided it would be better to take a nap and get stronger.

I needed to get stronger, not exactly to take care of myself and my girls, but because I had an anniversary date for Saturday night!  We obviously had this set up long before I was sick.  I had a grand plan...My hubby and I had a hotel reserved downtown St. Louis, go for a nice dinner, go to the Rams/Packer football game, and then hit the town.  You see I am a Green Bay Packer fan and Scott is a Rams fan.  Okay clarification, I like the St. Louis Rams also...except when they play the Packers.  I have to root for my Packers then, after all being a Packer fan is in my blood!

So I have 2 days to get strong for my hot date night.  And as I proved before when I set my mind to something I can make it happen!

Hospital Journey Concludes

It is now Wednesday August 14th, 2013.

I woke up to a wonderful text from my husband that said "Happy Anniversary".  He also sent this picture.

Looks like all our girls slept with their Daddy, even our furry daughter.  And the fact that I only got teary eyed when I got this was a huge plus for the day.  Hopefully today was not going to be the crying my eyes out like yesterday was.  Scott also told me that the girls were needing to come and see me today, basically "my mother hen needed to see me".    Scott was going to go into work in the morning and the girls were going to go to my fabulous neighbors.  We knew that the neurologist would not be stopping by until around lunch time so we knew Scott would be fine going to work he would not be missing anything at the hospital.

I spent the morning with Pat and my Mom was going to come after lunch.  Pretty much the morning was nothing special, just sitting around and waiting to go home.  The nurse did tell me that the more the doctors see me out of bed the better the chances would be for me leaving.  Needless to say, I was walking as much as I could and sitting in the chair rather than the bed whenever I could.  I asked the nurse to ask the neurologist to see if I could be on one of the last stops they make so Scott could get back from work to sit in on the conversation.  So now all we had to do was sit there and wait.  We knew the spinal tap results would not be ready for a couple of days so we were just waiting for the all clear to go home.  After all my girls first day of school was tomorrow!  So basically the word for the day is waiting!

Parts of the day are a little foggy, but I am pretty sure that this is what happened.  If I get anything incorrect, I apologize and I will chalk it up to foggy MS brain and stress.  I cannot remember if my Mom brought the girls or if Pat left to get them which think is what happened.  I do remember that the moment I saw my Mom walk into my room we both burst into tears.  I do not think the nurse knew what to do with both of us crying.  I finally to her not to worry, she was my Mom.  I guess the nurse understood because her just chucked.  You see that is how I am and how my family is.  If one of us gets tears in our eyes and the other one sees it, it is over, we all all in tears.  I was so happy my Mom came.  There is just something comforting about having your Mom by your side when you are sick.

When my girls walked in I almost felt a breath of fresh air.  I was finally going to get the hugs that I have been needing.  And yes I had tears in my eyes.  I was quickly able to dry them up and tell the girls that I was fine and I was hoping to come home soon.  I also showed them the heart monitor wires that were on me and the IV.  I wanted to show them so they would not be scared or afraid to ask me questions.  I think their favorite part was when I took them for a "ride" on the hospital bed or maybe they liked the ice cream the nurse brought them.  They liked how it would go up, down and tilt.  They ended up staying for a good couple of hours.  It was great having them there.  They were the best medicine for me!

Shortly after Scott came back to the hospital a doctor came in.  Thankfully it was not a sea of lab coats like yesterday but it was a nice looking lady.  She introduced herself and said she was specialized with multiple sclerosis.  She went over my MRI and told me that they were convinced that I did in fact have multiple sclerosis.  She also confirmed that we would not know the results form my spinal tap for about 4-6 days.  Then she gave us the best news...I was going home tonight!!!  WooHoo!  Right before she left the head neurologist came in to talk to us.  Both the doctors asked if we had any questions.  Of course we did, but we had no idea where to even start.  The best way to describe what we were feeling was scared and in shock.

We still had some time to kill before we were officially allowed to leave.  I asked if Scott could take me off the floor.  So we got a wheel chair and we left...well we left to go down stairs so Mom could use our parking pass to head back to our house.  I should have known something was not quite right when I was feeling motion sick with Scott pushing my chair, but I chalked it up to his driving.  Hahaha.  After he came back from the parking lot he asked where I wanted him to talk me and I said back to the room, I was very tired.  Plus I did not want them to say we could go home and we were not there!  And sure enough shortly after we were back, they said we could leave!!!  Time to pack my bag and leave!  I proved to myself if you set your mind at something you can make it happen.  My first goal was to be out of there in time to be at home for the first day of school, and it happened!

Well the ride home what not quite as smooth as we would have thought.  I am not going to go into details, sorry about that, but let me just say that I am glad that the sick bags and bucket were still in the car.  It was a VERY rough and long drive home.  Poor Scott got to see me getting sick next to him!  Happy Anniversary honey! He did ask before we crossed the river if we should turn around.  My answer was "No way, keep driving.  I am not going back there!"  When we got home I hugged the kids and said I was not feeling well, got sick a little more and then went to bed.  I think I was asleep by 8.  Not sure about the time but that sounds good.  I lost track how many times Scott checked on me that evening.  I have never been more thankful or felt so lucky to have him!  He truly is my rock.

Still on My Journey

So it is Tuesday August 13th, a day that I refer to as my emotional day!  After the nurse left I knew I needed to get out of that room.  But let's face it; there is nowhere for me to go.  So we did the next best thing...walk the halls or as it probably looked, pace the halls.  Amazingly enough I was able to compose myself before we left the room.  Well that is until we turned the corner and ran into the sea of white lab coats then I burst into tears.  Scott, who was amazing through this whole journey, just pulled me into his arms and held me.  And that was just what I needed.  We then turned the other direction and continued on our stroll.  The nurses we passed were so sweet some asked if I was okay and others just gave a supportive smile.  I became calm again and even laughing a little along our walk, when BAM! We ran into those darn doctors again!  Let me just say that every time we saw them I burst into tears.  I cannot explain why, there was just something that came over me.  Pretty much from the time the doctor let it slip that I was believed to have MS I cried at the sight of more than 2 doctors together.  I mean having 12 doctors all in white lab coats was pretty darn intimidating.  I also blame the lack of sleep for being extra emotional that day.  Ohh and I guess receiving news that your life has changed probably did not help matters either.

Up until I was diagnosed, I had heard of multiple sclerosis, but that was pretty much it.  I knew the name but nothing more.  Flash forward for a second...yep I have done lots of research and know what it is...but that is about all.  There is really not a whole lot out there!

Okay back to my emotional day.  By the time we were done with our walk my lunch arrived.  I told Scott to go down and get his lunch.  He really did not want to leave me, but I made him go.  I told him to fill in our parents and our wonderful neighbor and anyone else that he felt like calling.  I knew he needed a break from all the medical stuff and needed to just get out of the room.  Plus I really needed him to be strong for me right now, because from the looks of me today, I was a basket case!  I am still amazed how strong and supportive he was and still is with all of this.  Not that I ever questioned it, but you really never know until you are faced with the situation.  He truly is my rock!

I think that it was after lunch that the speech therapist came in to evaluate me.  And as soon as she walked in I burst into tears.  Yes this pretty much was the case everything someone walked into my room.  I managed to compose myself and got ready for the hardest "test" yet.  I thought that the speech test was to make sure that I was talking "normal"...nope!  I had to listen to a list of probably 20 words and then repeat them back to her.  I did that about 4 different times.  Then I had to name as many different names I could in about a minute, count backwards from 100 by 4s, find matching shapes on a page (some of these were crazy hard, some of the angles were off by like 2 degrees), and other tests.  Then at the very end, probably 30-45 minutes later she had me repeat the original list.  Apparently speech therapy meant cognitive therapy.  After she left Scott told me he could not have passed some of those "tests".  Later that afternoon she came in and showed me my results...I passed with flying colors.  WooHoo one step closer to leaving!!

So now we have had visits from the three therapists and had lunch, all there is left to do is have my spinal tap... I did tell every nurse and doctor that they were going to need to give me some major happy medicine before that procedure.  I really do not understand why they could not have knocked me out for that.  I mean I really do not want to be awake for that.  Up until tap time Scott and I kept on looking at the clock just waiting.  I also was making him go home after the tap was done.  I told him that our girls needed him to be home with them and he should take them to the open house at their school.  They needed some sort of normalcy right now.  I then told him that he was not getting out of being here before the spinal tap he could leave after it was over.  Well at about 3:00 pm my favorite doctor from the sea of doctors came in to explain the procedure to us.  I must confess I absolutely love this doctor and I am not sure I would let any of the other doctors do the spinal tap.  He said the whole procedure would take about 45 minutes.  Then he gave me my happy medicine and told us to buzz him when I was feeling "loopy".  I am assuming "loopy" is a medical term :) After I took the medicine I just sat there waiting for it to kick in and Scott keep looking at me waiting for me to act weird.  He kept asking me how I felt and I would reply "I feel fine, I think he gave me placebo".  Then I told him we would give it 10 more minutes.  He then made a very good point, "Well that will be 10 minutes longer you are in the hospital".  Yep that was all he needed to say, I buzzed the doctor the next second.

He moved my table over so I would have something to lean on during the procedure.  He explained procedure again to us and assured me that I did not have a placebo.  He asked if I had any questions, I asked him how many tubes of spinal fluid he was going to take?  He told me he was going to take 6 tubes.  Maybe I did not need to ask that question!  After I was in position, my back had to be arched, he started the numbing process.  I do not understand why numbing my back was so painful!  It felt like he was putting fire in my spine.  The numbing process consisted of three shots.  The first one was shallow then the next one was deeper and the last one was deep in my spine.  Each one was more painful than the one before.  I have no idea how long this process took.  Every time I started to talk my doctor told me that I could not talk and that I had to be perfectly still.  So I told Scott to babble to keep my mind off what was going on behind me.  Let's just say I found out that my dear husband did not learn the art of babbling or talking just to hear himself talk.  My doctor then told me it was time to fill the tubes.  This did not go as fast as it does with blood.  Apparently the spinal fluid drips out, kinda like sap from a tree.  Ok that is my little analogy, it may or may not be accurate but it makes sense in my little head.  After the spinal tap was done and I was able to finally sit up and talk, I immediately get the worst head ache.  I found out that is a side effect to the procedure, it is funny how I do not remember hearing about that.  When my nurse came in she told me that the doctor said I did a great job.  I then said to her, "Did you say something about having ice-cream?  I think after that I really need some."  She chuckled and agreed.

After everything was over my mother-in-law, Pat, came in to visit and yes when she walked in I burst into tears.  She then gave me two of the best get well cards ever.  Yes my girls made them and of coarse I am going to say they are the best.

 And yep you guessed it, when she handed me the cards I burst into tears.  I missed my girls so much.  I knew they were in the best hands, but all I wanted was a hug from my two little babies.  I wanted to see them so bad that it made my heart hurt.  As much as I needed to see them I knew today was not the day for them to come.  I was just way too emotional.  They did not need to see me this way.  The wonderful pastor from our church came to visit us also and yes more tears from me.  Well it was time for Scott to go home and spend much needed time with our girls and get some rest.  I reassured him that I would be fine and that his mom was going to stay with me so there was nothing for him to worry about.  Time to finally get some sleep, hopefully!

Journey Continues...

So now it is Tuesday August 13th around 12:30 am and I am finally in a room and settled in for the night.  I'm not sure what I was thinking when I thought I would actually get a good nights sleep some sleep.  Shortly after we were in the room, the nurse and nurses tech came in to talk to us and take my vitals and hook me up to a heart monitor.  When they left Scott moved the recliner up next to my bed and he got settled in for the night.  The first night they came into my room every hour to take my vitals, I know they took blood at one point, and I cannot remember what else they did.  I do remember that just when I was about to fall asleep is about the time they came in.  They really know how to time it.  Then at about 3:30 am they came in to take me to get my first MRI.  I assumed that if Scott woke up (he did not seem to have a hard time falling asleep or snoring) he would not be too worried that I was gone.  On my way to the MRI I asked the gentleman if he takes a lot of people to get MRI's in the middle of the night.  He told me they do about 6 a night.  I am not going to lie, I was surprised by the number.  I thought it was kinda high, but then again I really had no idea.  When I arrived in the MRI room I was not nervous or scared.  The tech told me that I had to lie perfectly still for about 45 minutes and towards the end he was going to inject dye in my IV for the last could of pictures.  I remember thinking that it is 3:30 am and I have not had any sleep, finally, I was going to get at least 45 minutes if sleep.  So I lied on the table and he put the padding and this giant cage on my head.  Then I closed my eyes and got settled in for my little nap.  He also gave me this ball to squeeze if I needed to get out.  I was not sure why I would need it but I knew it was there if I needed it.  I was almost relaxed when the machine started up and I am pretty sure I jumped!  I could not believe how loud it was!  I knew then that there was no way I was going to get any sleep.  I wished I asked the tech how many different sounds I should hear because then I would have an idea of how much longer I would have to lie there.  I was pretty sure that the machine did not take the pictures using magnetic imaging, it must be using sound waves.  Then I heard a voice saying that it was time to inject the dye and that I was almost done.  I was not a fan of the dye, I could feel it go in my arm. The dye felt tingly and burned a little.  All I wanted to do at that point was move.  There is something about knowing that you cannot move that really makes you want to move!  It was at that point that I wanted to squeeze that ball and get out of the machine.  I just needed to get out of there!  I just did not know if pushing the ball would make me have to do the whole thing over again...so I stuck it out.  I could be still just a little bit longer.

I got back to the room around 5 am and I think that is when I FINALLY slept for about an hour and a half, because that is when, my wonderful, nurse decided to come in.  I really do not understand why they feel the need to take my vitals so much.   So it looks like I was up for the day and since I was up for the day I think my sleeping husband should be up for the day also.  I was told that I had a packed day of doctors and therapists.  I had a visit from the occupational therapist, physical therapist, and speech therapist.  All of whom did these wonderful "tests", which reminded me of how uncoordinated and weak I was right now.  The occupational therapists had me do one test that involved me circling things on a paper with a pencil.  I was pretty alarmed when I realized that I could barely hold a pencil and had to concentrate on making a circle, all while doing a timed test! Both the physical and occupational therapists came and I was done with my "tests" by about 10:00.  Let me just say it was a long morning, especially with having no sleep!

I am guessing it was around 10:30 when a flock no a heard group of about 12 doctors came into my little tiny room.  And believe me I am not exaggerating the number of doctors.  You see I was at a phenomenal hospital, actually a phenomenal teaching hospital.  So yes, in my little room there was the head neurologist and 11 "doctors in training" as I will call them.  All in their crisp white lab coats and notebooks and each one trying to standout from the other.  It was as if I was in a scene from Grey's Anatomy.  The "doctor in training" who was the elected to talk was explaining my CT results and blood test results.  He said that my CT scan was great and that I did not have a stroke.  I honestly was bummed when he said that I did not have a stroke.  I know strokes are very serious, but I thought that was the simplest reason for me being in the hospital.  I mean I can change my diet, take an aspirin and have therapy.  Because if it was not a stroke, then what could it be.   Then he asked if we had any questions.  I replied "The first question I have is when can I eat, I am starving."  The "doctor in training" said that there is no reason why I cannot eat.  I then told him I thought I was having some test done today where the would knock me out and that is why I could not eat.  He then replied that they did not need to do that test anymore, because they were going to need to do a different test, a spinal tap, because it was believed that I had MS.  After he said that I think both Scott and my heart stopped.  We are pretty sure that he was not suppose to tell us this in the manner he did and we really think he let this info slip.  It was in this very moment that our lives changed.  I remember feeling as if I was stuck in a whirlpool of white lab coats.  This was the first time that day, that I tried to hold back the tears.  I just wanted all of those doctors to leave and I wanted to pretend that this never happened.  Then he asked if we had any other questions.  Scott let out a laugh and said "oh yes we have a lot".  That is when, my favorite doctor, from the back row said that maybe they could come back when there were not so many of them.  We told him that was a great idea.  Right before the sea of lab coats left I told them that our daughters first day of school was on Thursday.  I asked them, through a stream of tears, what they chances were that I could be home for that.  I told you before that I was telling everyone that I saw.  I remember the look on some of the doctors faces, a look of pity and sorrow.  Then the head doctor said that there should not be a problem with me being home by Thursday.  Finally the first good news!  After the sea of white coats left, Scott looked at me and pulled me into his arms and I just broke down and cried a very hard cry.  I told him I was sorry for crying and he told me that there is absolutely nothing to be sorry about.  I then told him I was sorry for crying, because I was not a pretty crier.  Then the nurse came in to get my lunch choice and she reassured me that there are some of the best doctors here and that I would be ok.  At that point all I wanted to do was go to bed and wake up with all of this being a bad dream.

My Journey Continues...

Well we arrived at the Emergency Room with out me getting sick :)  Good news for Scott! The walk from the car to the ER was the second time I saw the look of concern on Scott's face.  That is a sight I will be seeing for a while.  I am usually a pretty fast walker, I think that comes from keeping up with a fast walking husband, but today I think a snail could have passed me.  I did tell him that we were going to need to walk at my pace and not his.  He was there to support and guide me into the ER, and from the looks of the waiting room, we were going to be there a while.  I am not sure when it was first mentioned, but with all my symptoms we were pretty sure that I was having a stroke.  Let me just say that when you walk into a packed waiting room with symptoms of a stroke, especially at the age of 33, you go to the front of the line.  From the time they took my vitals and heard my symptoms, for the first time, it was only about 30 minutes until I was in a room.  Not to shabby, but like I said before, when you are showing signs of a stroke they rush you to the front of the line.

I was in the ER room, my first room, from about 7:00 pm-12:35 am.  I think I told everyone that came in that my girls had their first day of school on Thursday.  I was not going to miss that, even if I had to break out of the hospital. I had a wonderful ER nurse who was very patient with me about putting an IV in me.  I am as I would say a big baby when it comes to needles, and this very thing is the ONLY reason why I did not want to go to the hospital.  I was pretending to be a big girl and squeezed my eyes shut until it was over.  Oh I do need to add that they had a pulse thing on my finger before my IV.  Scott got quite a kick out of watching my pulse go from 70 (before IV) to 180 (during the IV).  I was just glad I was able to amuse him! Most of my memory from this first room is a blur.  I know they took a ton of blood and I was  given "tests".

These "tests" as I call them were the hardest and most frustrating things for me.  They are should be easy.  They are everyday type things. However for me, they were the hardest and scared me as to what was really going on and how I would be after the fact.  The "tests" that the nurses and doctors had me do were; squeeze their hands as hard as I could, walk to the other side of the room, hop on one foot, walk on my tip toes, walk backwards, pull up my knees while the pushed down, touch my finger on their finger then to my nose, push out my feet while they pushed back, and some other test similar to the ones I mentioned.  I was great with my left side, no problems.  My right side however, was a whole different story.  I could barely squeeze their hands and needed to have assistance while I walked, hopped, and walked on my tip toes.  I have never felt so weak and scared than when I was doing these "tests".  By now I had a new symptom to add.  My right arm kept on twitching and shaking.  I have never thought of my self as a controlling person, but I did not like the fact that I could not control my arm.  I felt almost as if I was a visitor in my own body.

Also during my stay in this first room I had x-rays and a CT scan.  The first time they took me to x-rays they said it was for my left wrist.  I chuckled and said "I really do not think that is correct, my left wrist is perfectly fine."  Needless to say after they called the doctor, it was in fact an error.  I just laughed about that and hey it got me out of the room.  Later they did come back to take me to x-ray for a chest x-ray.  I honestly do not remember having the CT scan, so I am thinking it was no big deal.

Up until the findings of the CT scan we had a neurologist talking to us about stroke trials and meds to give me if I qualified.  Everything was looking towards me having a stroke.  The doctor then came back and said that the window for one of the main meds was "closed" but after the results are in form the CT scan they could still give me one other med.  They also were going to do a test the next day.  I cannot remember what it was called, but I could not eat or drink now because they were going to have to knock me out for the test.  I do know it involved them going into a vein in my leg and go up towards my heart.  As I said before, I am a huge baby when it comes to needles, but knock me out and you can do any medical thing you want.

So now it is about midnight and I am ready to go to a room upstairs in the neurology area.  I am still reminding everyone about the girls first day of school on Thursday.  I am crossing my fingers that I will be there.  But for now it is time for us to settle in for a good nights sleep the night.

How my journey began...

Wednesday September 4th marked 3 weeks into my journey with having Multiple Sclerosis.  And to celebrate this I had an MRI.  LOL.  I must say I am really not a fan of MRI's, but as I have learned they are going to be my new best friend.  So I put on my "big girl pants" and headed off to have it at Metro Imagining.  Oh and by the way, Metro Imagining (in St. Louis) was a very friendly place.  I highly recommend it if you should ever have to get any imaging done.  One of the hardest part of the MRI is having to lay perfectly still for close to an hour.  They did put music on for me, however the machine is so loud when it is taking pictures that I could barely hear the music.  So this left me for close to an hour with only the thoughts in my head.  So I started to think back at how this new journey began...

I guess I should have thought more about my very strange symptom on Mother's Day, but looking back I still probably would not have done anything different.  We had a wonderful Mother's Day at my in-laws house on the lake.  My parents came to join the lake fun.  While we were going for a boat ride my Mom noticed that I was rubbing my foot.  She asked if I was okay and I told her that my foot was numb.  It was a very strange feeling!  It was like it was asleep but without the tingling feeling.  Then when I was walking it felt heavy just plain weird! I would ask my husband, Scott, to squeeze it as hard as he could and he was shocked that I could not feel it.  Then I told him to do that same thing to the leg that I had feeling in and I about screamed when he squeezed my leg.  This numbness lasted for about 4 days or so.  I honestly never thought about going to the doctor.  What was I going to say, "Hi I feel perfectly fine, but my foot and leg are numb".  I have never been a go to the doctor type person.  I pretty much have to have a limb detached to in or in an excruciating amount of pain for me to go to a doctor.  Which I did not have, I could feel no pain because I was numb.  Then after about 4 days the numbness slowly started to fade.  All I thought was "wow that was just weird!"

Okay now fast-forward to about July 25th.  I started to have a new numb feeling.  This time it was on the left side of my face.  It started at the top of my head and went down my nose until right about the bottom of my cheek bone.  Even half the roof of my mouth was numb.   Let me clarify my "numbness" if I may.  By numbness I do in fact mean numb, but this time it was almost as if all my nerves were on overdrive.  Everything HURT on my left side.  It hurt to put eye shadow on my left eye, brushing my hair on the left side and I cannot even describe what it was like to brush my upper teeth on the left side of my mouth.  While everything HURT so bad, it still felt numb.  Okay I know I made that as clear as mud, but it is the most indescribable feeling in the world.  I honestly thought it was the worst sinus infection in the world.  After about a week I did go to the ENT (Ear Nose Throat).  I had a feeling that this could be a little more than the average infection.  Oh and with me only waiting a week to go to the doctor is HUGE.  Usually I wait at least two weeks or longer.  He prescribed an antibiotic and told me to come back in two weeks to see how I was.  The problem was that I was not getting better on the meds or at least not as well as I thought I should be.

Then on Monday August 12th when I woke up my numbness was gone.  It was the weirdest thing! Literately it was like a switch was flipped and I was better...or so I thought. About an hour later I noticed my numbness had shifted from the top of the left side of my face to the right side of my body.  My arm was numb and my whole leg was numb. All morning I did not feel "right".  And let me just say that I had NO TIME to be sick.  The girls were starting school in 3 days and we had hair cuts to get, school supplies to get and the last bit of summer fun to have.  Being sick did not fit into my plans!!! I did what I always do when I do not feel well, I powered through.  Or at least that was my plan.  I mean the next day was when I was going back to the ENT, I could power through one day.  However, I did realize pretty quickly while I was driving, something was definitely wrong. I felt like I was drunk at 10 am, for lack of better terms.  I honestly felt that if I was pulled over I was not going to pass a sobriety test.  Thankfully my Garden Angles were there to guide my car safely home.  Then I canceled the girls hair appointment, I did not feel safe driving anywhere.  Shortly after I cancelled the appointment I started to feel very dizzy.  I just did not feel right!  I was stumbling when I walked and needed to use the wall to keep me from falling.  What in the world was going on! By now I was starting to feel pretty scared, even though I was not going to admit it then.  Thankfully I have the most wonderful and caring neighbor next door who let the girls come over and play while I rested.  I still felt out of it for lack of better way to describe how I felt.  I guess I had motion sickness from my dizziness and got sick to my stomach.  (Sorry I said this was an honest blog.)  I called Scott to see if he could take our youngest to her soccer practice because I really did not feel well.  During all of this my wonderful neighbor kept checking on me trying to encourage me to go to the doctor.  But I kept saying that I was going tomorrow.  I would be fine until tomorrow.  Right? She then had her daughter call me to see how I was and to try to convince me to go to the doctor.  I told you I have the best and the most caring neighbor!  Of course I was my stubborn self...I was not going to go to the doctor.  But by now I noticed I was having a hard time taking and the right side of my face was no quite right.  My speech was slurred and I felt like I was concentrating on how to talk.  So my now my walking pace was VERY SLOW as well as my speech.  I did not know what was going on, I just knew I was starting to get pretty worried.  Shortly after I started thinking that maybe I should go somewhere, Scott called.  He said he was coming home and I needed to decide which hospital I wanted to go to.  I knew there was no getting out of this one.  So my neighbor (who was the one who told Scott what was going on) came over to be with me while he drove home.  She did not find me resting, nope she found me going through and sorting the girls school supplies.  I told you I had a lot to do that week.  After I had the supplies sorted and the list highlighted with what we still needed my husband came home.  I truly believe my extreme stubbornness was due to the fact that I was scared beyond words.  I knew in my heart that something was wrong, very wrong. It did take Scott about 30 minutes to get me out of the house.  Not because I was walking very slow or stumbling, but because I knew once we got to the hospital they would keep me there until they knew what was going on, and I did not want to know.  Because once I knew, it would become reality.  There are something about that day that will always be etched in my heart.  I will always remember the love and concern I felt from my neighbors and the look of love and concern on Scott's face.  I knew the moment he saw me that it was serious.  Little did we know how serious it was going to be.  The ride to the hospital was one of the longest ones.  I was hoping not to get sick again and I was scared to go but I was more scared not to go...