What's Happening With My Health

[Minister's Wife]

Posted this on Facebook yesterday and forgot to share here. Duh! I think I have been kind of out of it. Amway, here it is:

Well it is official, I had a stroke. The Dr called it (in her words) an itsy bitsy tiny stroke. She said it only pin points the nerve that is messed up in my eye and if it didn't no one would have know I even had one.
All of my tests came back great (cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, etc...) and all the tests on my eye are great too. She said my eyes are very healthy. It is only that one tiny nerve that is messed up.
Good news is she is pretty sure it will heal. Bad news is it will take 3-6 months to do so. Really bad news is that IF it does not heal then they start testing for what she called zebra diseases, the kind that affect 1 out of several million people, the really rare stuff.
But she is very confident I will be fine in no time and I need to try and do as much normal life things as I can tolerate and try to get back to everyday life.
I feel so much better getting a name put to the problem and knowing someone is really doing what can be done instead of guessing.
Oh and she is definitely qualified. She is an ophthalmologist, a neurologist, and a neuro-ophthalmologist. She really knows her stuff!!
Best part through a special organization my visits to her are free!!! Praise God for that and the news!!

[rebate queen]

Wow--who woulda ever guessed a stroke? She does sound like she knows her stuff though! I'll pray that it heals on its own as quickly as possible! :)

[Ryan's Mom]

Is that something like a TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack)? I had one and it gave me amnesia, but it only lasted a few hours. Scared the heck out of my family. I didn't know who anyone was and didn't even care! Really strange experience. You're in our thoughts and prayers and we're hoping it's something that passes quickly.

[Minister's Wife]

The Dr said it wasn't the same as a TIA. It was a specific kind of stroke she gave some gigoonda big name to that targets the 6th nerve to the eye. That's all it does, well and you get all the side affects of having a stroke with just feeling out of it and so on. She said I may have a few memory issues and trouble concentrating for a while (which is soooo true!!!) but other than that just the nerve is affected.

My Mom had one stroke and a TIA, so I know how scary those are. She scared me a lot and I can imagine how your family felt Dolores! I'm watching my husband go through it now. He's been like a mother hen to me for the past month. Sweet guy!!

[jammom]

Geez ladies-I feel so helpless-wish there was something I could do...
Just know that you're in my prayers & appreciate the updates on everything
I agree Lois-b4 they put a name w/ my Myositis,I was frustrated-my balance was way off,my legs felt like they weighed 100 lbs each,the pain...sometimes not knowing is worse than knowing cuz at least w/ a name you can make a game plan.(that's what I used to tell my patients)
Wish I could come clean your house & help your dear hubby out a bit.
You take care of yourself

[Minister's Wife]

Aww thanks Deb!! That's sweet. My hubby is doing the best he can, and no it is not near what I would do. But I'm not gonna complain. He's been a trooper through this whole thing. And we have a long while ahead to go through too.

A couple of the ladies from church have made some meals and several offered to come over to clean some. I may take them up on it. I'm shocked at how much the dog hair has built up in the nooks and crannies. Yuck!! And being a clean freak like I am it kinda bugs me. I did try to vacuum one day. OH MY GOLLY!!!!! Was that ever a big mistake. About 4 times back and forth with the thing and I thought I was gonna pass out right then and there.

I think that is the worse thing about the whole mess, just plain being so dizzy and disoriented because of the vision being messed up. It's like my head is in overdrive trying to make sense of how the world looks and it can't! But I am learning to compensate here and there. Least I can get on here now! Yay!! I have learned a few little tricks to make it easy for me. So I don't feel so isolated now!!

Don't you just love this whole getting older process we get to go through?!

[we3kings]

I had a stroke in March so I can relate to how scary this situation is for you. I have chronic migraine headaches so they thought that might be what it was but with a CAT scan they were able to determine that it was indeed a stoke. While I was in the hospital I had a major migraine on top of everything and they did tests to check my heart and found a small hole in it. It too me several months to even start to feel back to normal again. With lots of medications and diet changes I have improved some. We as women should not dismiss the signs of stoke and think it'll just go away. The quicker you get to the hospital the better off you are. My point is, try not to worry too much and take care of yourself. You probably will improve as time goes on.

[Minister's Wife]

I had a stroke in March so I can relate to how scary this situation is for you. I have chronic migraine headaches so they thought that might be what it was but with a CAT scan they were able to determine that it was indeed a stoke. While I was in the hospital I had a major migraine on top of everything and they did tests to check my heart and found a small hole in it. It too me several months to even start to feel back to normal again. With lots of medications and diet changes I have improved some. We as women should not dismiss the signs of stoke and think it'll just go away. The quicker you get to the hospital the better off you are. My point is, try not to worry too much and take care of yourself. You probably will improve as time goes on.

Thanks bunches!! I am taking it very easy. I need to, there is no way I am going to stay sick. The Dr said it will take up to 6 months before my eye and vision are back to normal. But she has every confidence that it will improve. Thing is I didn't have any sign of a stroke at all. She said if it hadn't hit that nerve we would have never known. Apparently it is the kind of stroke (and she named a whole bunch of different kinds) that never shows up on tests and you have to know exactly what you are looking for. Since her specialty is the eye she knew what she was looking at cause she had seen it lots of times. It pays to have a Dr who knows what they are doing. I'm very thankful for that!!

[jammom]

I'm so glad you're in good hands w/ your MDs-miss my IL MDs so bad......(esp when you have an uncommon condition)
You even had me reading about it-used to be in Cardiac surg & right up my alley-love to learn about new things...
Traci is so right-us women tend to pass things over-I mean all my med stuff started as major leg pains & spasms-I thought gee,go to the MDs cause my legs hurt,must be working too much & I was playing 3 games of softball a nite...
Golden years-HELL-I fell apart 2 wks after I turned 40...