What the heck is going on?

Hi folks.  It's been awhile since I've posted.  I'm sorry about that.  Let me tell you what happened.

I woke up on Saturday, June 29th, just like any other day.  I had big plans; my neighbor was going to loan me her kayak so I could see if I liked that type of exercise on the water in addition to walking the neighborhood (a few miles) each day for an hour. I was also going to be volunteering later on at a Raffle table for the Gulf Coast Bird Rescue foundation at Crabby Bill's in Indian Rocks Beach.  I was excited.  I got up and started to make our bed.  I pulled up the comforter and one of the pillows fell on the floor.  I bent down and picked it up but when I stood up, I had an intense ringing in my ears and felt a bit dizzy.  I thought I had vertigo and leaned against the wall waiting for it to pass.  After a few moments, the ringing stopped but the dizziness didn't' pass, so I called TDH and asked him to stand by me until I got to the bed so I could sit down.  He did and I did.  A few moments more and it (the dizziness) went away.  I felt fine, so I continued with my morning.  I made coffee and got the paper and sat at the breakfast room table and started to read.  When I went to turn the front page to the inner page, I had a bit of difficulty grasping the page.  I thought, that's odd and tried again.  This time, my fingers felt numb.  Hmmm.  I went to turn away from the table to get up and realized my foot felt numb too.  So again, I called TDH and when he came over, I said "My fingers and foot feel weird".  At least, that's what I thought I said.  He looked at me and said "What?"  We both knew in that moment, something was wrong.  He got his phone and dialed '911'.  He then held my arms as I forced myself to take step after step into the bedroom so I could get out of my nightgown into shorts and a top.  Within a few minutes, EMTs arrived.  TDH's story is that when the burly EMTs arrived in the bedroom, my first words were: "Do you want me to take off my shirt?"  My story is that they got out the EKG machine and then I asked.  Who do you believe?  They also took my blood pressure and asked me questions like, "Do you know your name and birthdate?"  At that point, I seemed to be able to speak clearly, which made me intensely relieved.  But, my right side was still sort of tingly and numb.  They said they didn't know what was going on, but it didn't seem to be a stroke.  After saying that, the EMTs said 'We can take you to the ER or your husband can do it.'  We both said "TDH will drive me."  I wanted him with me and he wanted his car available.  So...off we go, 2 EMTs in front of me and 2 EMTs behind me ... walking (well, them walking, me plodding - concentrating on each and every step, not knowing where my foot was when I wasn't looking at it) through the house to the car out front.  TDH drives carefully ( I keep telling him I don't hurt, just feel weird) to the local hospital ER.  He goes in and gets someone to get a wheelchair and they take me right in.  The elapsed time from the first dizziness to now is about 45 minutes.

They took me right in as there was no one in the waiting room and it seemed quiet.  I got put into a community staging room with 3 other beds.  On one is a sleeping (I thought) man with his arm tied to the bed, on another is a young woman crying because she cut her foot on some glass, on the third is an older woman who I couldn't hear or understand and on the fourth is me.  I undress and get a nightgown on - with TDH help.  I still am having trouble with buttons and zippers.  Luckily, footwear de riguer in Florida is flip flops, so no issue there.  I get back on the bed and folks come in and out, taking history (recent, like what happened?).  They gave me an aspirin and took me for a CAT scan.  A little while later, they came in and said "The CAT scan didn't show anything but since you are still having issues, we'll try to get you a room."  this is about an hour or so after I arrived.

So, okay, something is going on, but no one seems to be worried or upset (including me - mostly because TDH is keeping me laughing).  We call our daughter who arrives about an hour later and we bring her up to date.  A bit later she takes video of me trying to eat a raisin.  It's hilarious and we are all giggling like madmen. http://youtu.be/0moMhUGKuY0  The reason is that breakfast got interrupted and I was starving.  Daughter had brought snacks because, well, because she is a Mom and always has snacks.  TDH and daughter keep encouraging me to try to sleep but I am too .... something ..... to sleep.  Also, the nurse tells us the man in the next bed is in withdrawal and she has sedated him so....hmmm....waiting for him to wake up and what that will bring is interesting.  The young girl with the cut foot is screaming and hollering that there has never been pain like hers and can't they just leave it alone.  There was no one near her at the time.  Each time someone tries to look at it or touch it... off she goes.  It's excruciating to listen to and keeps all of us on edge.  They finally convince her to submit to a numbing shot ( she screams through that) and get stitches.  Each time the doctor goes near the foot to stitch, the girl screams that she can feel the needle.  I can't count how many times the doctor says "I haven't touched you yet!"  We have trouble keeping our laughter down so she can't hear us.  But it's hilarious, I'm sorry. Things settle down after she leaves and I'm still waiting for a room (so they tell me.)  They finally get a lunch tray so my stomach can stop growling - I eat almost everything on it.  That should tell you how hungry I was.

About 6 hours after I arrive, the nurse comes and brings my bed to the Neurological Floor.  They set me up with a Holter Monitor (for my heart) and those annoying leg compression things.  The Dr. who will become my Neurologist comes in around 530PM and asks my story.  TDH and I tell him the abridged version (minus the ER drama) and he asks how long it took to get to the hospital.  We tell him about 45 minutes - that we had been there since about 8AM.  He gets this look on his face and starts pacing and talking.  Apparently, when someone comes in with stroke symptoms (which I did) the ER is supposed to call a Stroke Alert (much like a Heart Attack Alert) where specialists come and assess the patient.  This ER didn't and didn't diagnose me with a Stroke.  He said I definitely had a stroke (this is the first time anyone has said it out loud) and sets me up for an MRI and a dye CAT.

When they come and take me for the testing (the last testing of the night, the techs tell me!), TDH goes home to feed the cat and because it's been a very long and stressful day.  Daughter stays and a friend of mine keeps her company while I have all the tests.  When I come back to the room, they give me IV albumin (?) supposedly to help circulation to the brain in a second IV site.  The first has saline and whatever meds they have me on.  My friend leaves and Daughter and I settle in for the night.

Daughter tries to rub my leg and I feel bad but have to stop her.  It feels horrible and I LOVE having my legs rubbed.  It felt like when your leg or arm is trying to wake up after it falls asleep - all pins and needles all the time.  Each time she'd touch my right leg, I'd jump off the bed.  She was trying to help - I didn't want her to feel bad - but - Oh my goodness.....

After that, I find it surprisingly easy to settle down and fall asleep.  The bed next to me is open, so Daughter settles in too.  The next thing I know 2 nurses are hollering as they run into the room "Are you all right?"  "How do you feel?"  I answer "I was sound asleep...what do you mean?"  They check my Holter monitor and do a quick EKG and tell me that my heart went into Atrial Fibrillation and they wanted to make sure I was all right. Apparently, I am and they leave.  Daughter and I settle down again after a bit of conversation and go to sleep.  The 2 nurses come running in again a while later ... the same thing happened.   This time it takes a bit longer to settle down and by that time, the morning routines begin; bloodwork, vitals, breakfast and taking lunch orders.

Thus ends my first day of - What the heck is wrong with my body?