where do I even begin?!!!!!!
I suppose I should start in November of 2014 - my life was crazy, busy and I am embarrassed to scythe busier I was the more fulfilled I felt) I would wake up at 4:42 a.m. and meet my good friend, Janell Gooch on the corner. we would slowly jog 4 miles. i would get home jump in the shower and proceed to get readyy for work at the hospital. at 6:;45 a.m. our family would gather at the table for scripture reading until 7:00 . then we would all quickly eat and the boys would leave for school. Russ and I would finish getting ready then Gracie and I would walk out the door at 7:20 i would perform my carpool duties, picking up thane Gooch, Makayla rands, and Rachel Dougherty. I would drop carpool kids off at Tonaquint intermediate school by 7:35 and pick up my dear friend, Winney Van Gills, on my way to work. I would then work from 8:00 to2:30 and get home just as all of my kids were getting home from school. then I would grab Gracie Grant, John Thompson, and Jenna Bishop and head off to Bloomington. I would drop Gracie off at gymnastics and the other three off at lacrosse practice. I would then park in the shade and take a quick 10 minute nap. then Grant would jump in the car and I would drive him to gymnastics. I would then go home and start making dinner. we would then usually go to the high school for fall baseball games. then the round up would begin. Russ and I would divide and conquer. i would pick up one kid he would grab the other , we would meet back at the house to all eat dinner together.,clean up, get ready for bed, wake up and do it all over again. I was lifting weights three days each week, jogging5-6 mornings/week.
It was about this time i realized I was absolutely exhausted all of the time. I was dizzy every time I stood up , I was always freezing cold, and just didn't feel good in general then I noticed I had an annoying dull head ache most of the day. Kami was diagnosed with Chiari malformation a few years ago (which runs in families) and I had many of the same symptoms. So,I was not worried in the slightest (there is really not much the doctors do for C M unless it is a super serious malformation. I decided I could handle the headache, but the fatigue was getting worse. I finally went to the doctor, we discussed my diet, my exercise habits, and he ran every blood panel he could think of... he checked my thyroid, my blood sugars., when the results came back, I was relieved, but so frustrated! because there was no answer, all blood work was great! the only quirk was low sodium. my doctor suggested that i eat a high protein snack every two hours and add a small bag of chips to my lunch or drink an occasional Gatorade instead of just water to increase my sodium levels. I followed his suggestions and felt a little less dizzy, but that dull headache was just hanging around. Life went on...the holidays came and went. I continued with my daily routines, jogging, working, shuttling kids around and cheering my children at gymnastics meets, baseball games, lacrosse games, and orchestra concerts. our family had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica that February ( see older post.)Grant had a good fall gymnastics season, and at his state meet was able to score high enough to qualify for regionals in April...now fast forward half a year.... Russ and I were planning on driving Grant to Colorado for the regional gymnastics competition at the Air Force academy in Fort Collins, CO. I was super excited to go. my dear friend, Kellie, lives in Denver and we were going to get to spend some time together. on the 11th(Thursday morning) i tried going to a chiropractor to see if a neck adjustment might help my head aches. the very slight adjustment felt good, but did nothing for the headache. later that day I Grabbed Garrett and I sandwiches and was driving to his last game of the baseball season at Desert Hills High School. on my way to the school i passed an accident, realizing that my mom had been rear-ended. it didn't look serious, but i decided to stop at my parent's home to see if my dad knew what had happened. He had heard and luckily it was not serious at all. while I was at their home I decided to eat my sandwich. when i was finished eating, i stood and turned to throw my trash away, got dizzy and began throwing up. Later i went to Garrett's game. but just wasn't feeling quite right. That night Russ and I decided I should stay home from Colorado -It was going to be too long of a drive and the altitude would be much higher- not good for a head ache. So Russ and Grant left for the meet without me. Saturday morning I was walking into my bathroom to take a shower. I noticed I was walking like I was wearing flippers. I thought to myself" this is odd, why am i walking like this ?" but I also could not stop my self from walking that way. in the shower , I had to hold myself up. I was starting to get scared. I called Russ and he told me to go to the doctor again. Garrett was hanging out with some friends and I knew I shouldn't drive my self , so I lied down to wait for Garrett to get home. When Garrett finally got home, I was feeling a little better and not so scared. I decided to put off going to the doctor until I had another episode of feeling bad again. besides Russ and Grant would be home the next evening and Russ would be able to help me assess my newest symptoms. of course I had no symptoms all that day . Monday morning, April 13th, 2015 I woke up early, jogged 4 miles with Janell, got ready and went to work. At work I was dizzy, fatigued, but really nothing out of the ordinary. until I went to the cafeteria for lunch. I picked up a lunch tray grabbed a box and proceeded to make myself a salad. as I turned to go pay for my salad, I got dizzy and puked all over my freshly made salad. THAT WAS IT I WAS GOING TO THE DOCTOR!! I FINISHED MY WORK DAY THEN WALKED OVER TO THE INSTA-CAREBUILDING AND ASKED TO SEE A DOCTOR. I reviewed with the doctor what had been going on for the past 6 months. he looked at my November blood work results, ran a few simple tests, like walking heel to toe across the floor,extending my index finger to touch his finger, then touch my nose and touch his finger again.I passed!!! he was still concerned though and suggested I get a C T scan. I scheduled it for Wednesday. so on April 15th,2015 (TAX DAY) I jogged in the morning, worked a full day, then went for my scan. At the end of the scan the tech asked me if I could wait around for a little bit? he said " we saw something on the scan and the doctor would like to talk to you before you leave" Russ had arrived by that time and we waited for the doctor.I believed he was going to discuss Chiari Malformation with me. but, He told us they needed a better image and said they are waiting for you in the E R to do an M R I. . we went a short distance across the parking lot to the E R In the middle of the procedure I began throwing up again. when it was over I went to sit with Russ in the waiting area because again "a doctor wanted to talk to us be fore we left" again,I believed he was going to discuss Chiari Malformation with me. I was SO not feeling good at this point and told Russ I was going to go and lie down in the car and to come and get me when the doctor was ready. as I was walking to the car, my legs gave out on me and I collapsed into the arms of two nurses who threw me in a wheel chair and admitted me as a patient in the E R. i was lying in a bed when the doctor came in, He said "Hello, I"m dr. Fox and I've come to discuss the results of your M R I. I said " yes, I know who you are( our hospital's big neurosurgeon) and if you're coming to discuss the results with me then they are not good!" he said, " you:"re right they are not good" , "we have found a good sized mass in the frontal lobe of your brain. "What?!!!!" I asked by "by good sized ?, you're talking approximately how big?", He said about the size of a golf ball. but the huge complication was that I had a tremendous amount of swelling in my brain and my cerebral cortex was shifted so far over , he couldn't believe I was "still functioning and not having seizures". He immediately admitted me to the I C U to try and reduce swelling . "He was going to do surgery by the end of the week to remove the tumor. As the swelling decreased and they were able to get better images of the tumor, Dr. fox determined the surgery was going to be too difficult and dangerous"out of his league" he suggested I see the best neuro-surgeon in the nation, Dr. Rao, in Houston, Texas. Dr. Rao had trained Dr. Fox and they began communicating about my tumor. Miracle #1: Dr Rao agreed to take me as a patient. miracle #2 : his hospital in Houston (M.D. Anderson) was able to get me in for consultation the following week( normally a three month waiting period). I was discharged from our hospital the following Monday, i spent a few days with my kids and prepared to fly to Houston. SCARED NOW!!!!!
LUCKILY MY SISTERS STARED A BLOG FOR ME AT THIS TIME(PRAYERS FOR KOKO@Bblogspot.com AND DOCUMENTED MY EXPERIENCES IN HOUSTON. I am absolutely exhausted after trying to remember just this part of the experience. this is way too long so I will end here and pickup later on more current events.
No comments:
Post a Comment