To all the Kossacks who sent me prayers, energy, good thoughts and good wishes, lit candles for me, added me to prayer chains and masses, and in other ways helped to bring me back into balance, my thanks and love. And to all who caused it to hit the rec list in 15 minutes, again, my thanks and love. Knowing all of you were wishing me well really helped me yesterday and may well have been a major factor in my being able to snap back. Charles made sure to tell me about it.
To my beloved partner of seven years, my true love, who posted Wednesday's diary from my account about my being in the hospital, for staying with me until you no longer could keep up a brave face and needed some you time, and then returned to the hospital yesterday morning to see me to rights, see me through the MRI, and then bring me home last night, all my heart, always. The anniversary of our first date is Thanksgiving, since our first date was Thanksgiving 2002 and we always celebrate the holiday rather than the day of month as our anniversary. A hospital is a rotten place to spend your anniversary.
To the wagtails and pooties who were overjoyed to see us both back home yesterday night, scritches and love. Charles had been coming home every evening to take care of them, but they didn't get a lot of attention when we were both in the hospital.Now for a status update:
This four-day hospital stay was mostly a four-day nightmare for both of us. I have no idea what happened much of the time that I was there; for me, it was literally a nightmare most of the time. The neurologist who was overseeing my case talked with me this morning and he, too, is mystified as to what had happened. He said that I actually got worse as my electrolytes came more and more into balance, then obviously I snapped back sometime yesterday. I am not sure exactly when.
The MRI was done yesterday and we were given the all-clear as far as showing absolutely no signs of a stroke. One of the things they checked on MRI was my carotid arteries. I had an endarterectomy at 40 in my right carotid because an 80-90% blockage was discovered in the course of a pre-surgical workup for scheduled removal of kidney stones from my left kidney. The doctor doing the workup heard a bruit in my neck, sent me promptly downstairs to be dopplered, and found the blockage; the same scan showed very little blockage in the left, which had taken over all the work. Instead of having kidney stones removed the next week, I was scheduled with a superb vascular surgeon for the endarterectomy, and then subsequently was asked if I wanted to participate in a two-year study on arterial placque buildup and whether high-dose statins could cut down or even eliminate it. Part of the study was being dopplered and MRId every six months, including a baseline at the beginning and a final one at the end. Every scan that's been done since that time has showed clear or very close to clear carotids on both sides, and I take care to maintain a running prescription for a high dose statin.
The test that remains to be done with respect to this abberrant episode is an EEG, and that's something that will need to be scheduled in the near future. I intend to go to the University of Washington for that one, and for any follow-up to this, because my nephrologist is there, the surgeon who did my endarterectomy is there, the urologist who took out my kidney stones the month after the endarterectomy was there, the transplant program I'm listed in is there, and that's where I would head for almost any major care. I was apparently throwing up very old blood and a bunch of mucous when Charles took me into the ER Sunday night and that, too needs to be followed up. Throwing up any blood is a bad sign. I may need a gastrointestinal workup.
I was most thankful to get home last night and to finally get a shower, and to spend the remainder of our anniversary together in our own home and together, too, in our own bed. As I have been advised many times by my mother to do after I am in the hospital for any reason, I washed thoroughly, scrubbing all my skin surfaces with antibacterial soap on a fresh washcloth and washing my hair well, then drying off with fresh towels and taking them and all the clothes I had had in the hospital (except for a sweater, which needs dry cleaning) off to the laundry room for washing.
My mother would not be dissuaded from coming in and is on her way from the airport. She and her partner in New Jersey at my sister's yesterday and changed their return flight plans when she heard what was going on. I hope I am able to persuade her that I am all right and that she needn't stay; she's due back for a visit in mid-December and we're all going to the Nutcracker. Because she's already called from the airport and is headed this way, I may not be able to respond to comments for quite a while once she arrives. I apologize; I hate hit-and-run diaries as much as anyone else.
Once again, thank you, all of you. I expect we will head out to the post office to pick up the quilt if the postal carrier doesn't bring it up to the house, and they have already attempted delivery here but haven't come through the gate (something that we do not always use but have been recently to discourage trespassers). I'll update later, today or tomorrow, with a picture once we pick it up and I am quite sure I'll break down crying once I see it. Daily Kos is an amazing community in many ways. I already saw SaraR's picture and it is lovely. I can't wait to see it in person.