An Emotionally Draining Sunday

[Bloozcat]

To say the least, yesterday was one heck of a draining day for me...

My wife and I were attending church service yesterday as we frequently do on Sundays. At the end of the service my wife told me that she wasn't feeling very well. She said she was dizzy, nauseous, and just felt really weird in a way she couldn't explain. As I asked her more about what she was feeling, she said that she had a pain in the right side of her neck, and felt a slight tingling in her right arm. About this time another church member (who happened to be an EMT) noticed my wife's distress and came over to assist. We each asked my wife a serious of questions to gauge her verbal response...which was not very good. She was having difficulty verbalizing her answers, and seemed generally confused.

Well, to anyone who knows the symptoms, it appeared that my wife might be having a stroke. Both the EMT and I thought the same thing. Calculating that it would be much faster than calling for an ambulence, we quickly got my wife to our car and I sped off to the emergency room. While being admitted the hospital staff began asking the same leading questions to gauge my wife's response. Then they calmly and quickly moved her to a room where they began to check all of her vitals. Then it was quickly off for a CAT scan, and then a CT scan of the right side of her neck to check the Cartoid artery.

Fortunately, all the tests came back negative and the doctors could not find a direct cause for the symptoms my wife presented. During this time, I was on the phone with two doctor friends of ours who both assured me that "nothing" was a good thing because it ruled out any obvious and potentially debilitating causes like blood clots and blockages. As the day went on, my wife's speech returned to normal, and she ended the day with just slight dizziness when she would get up to use the rest room, and that was about it. The neurologist spoke with my wife in between times that I was in the room with my wife, so I didn't hear first hand what she had to say. But, I do know that the Dr. ordered an MRI for today specifically to look at the lower part of the brain (brain stem/Medulla Oblongota) to check that last part of the brain for any damage. According to my wife, the Dr. seemed to view this as more of a precaution so as to rule out any specific brain injury.

My wife should be discharged today, and as is her usual self - eager to get back to work (she even made me bring her some work to do while in the hospital bed last night). Both the hospital Dr.'s and my doctor friends mentioned a possible TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack or "mini-stroke") as the cause, but that has not been determined conclusively and often can't be confirmed.

My wife is as healthy as one can be. She exercises daily, eats really well, and as all of the ancillary tests from yesterday showed, she has no unhealthy indicators at all. None. So, while I'm greatly relieved that my wife didn't have a stroke or a tear of the Cartoid artery, I'm still concerned as to what exactly it was that caused the symptoms that came on so suddenly and in such an incapacitating way. Hopefully, I'll find out more today...

[Robert]

Oh, sounds kinda scary. Good thing she is herself again.

[Blaze]

Sending Mojo to both of you ..

[duhvoodooman]

Yikes! That's no way to spend a Mother's Day for either of you! :eek: Will add the two of you to our family prayer list!

[bigG]

Here's hoping for the best, blooz. Sounds like she's getting the best of care! Can't do more than that.

[luvmyshiner]

Very scary Blooz. Thoughts and prayers from the Shiner household to yours my friend.

[piebaldpython]

Geez Blooz......I hope your wife is OK. That's scary how that stuff can hit you (meaning the stroke symptoms) and then not leave a "calling card". Lots of prayers coming your way. Best wishes!

[ted s]

Good thoughts for you both BC

[aeolian]

I hope that everything turn out right.

[R_of_G]

Hope Mrs. Blooz is feeling better soon.

[sunvalleylaw]

Yes, I hope she is better soon. Prayers and thoughts to you both.

[street music]

Blooz! Man I hope she does alright, that isn't the way most would spend mothers day but it does happen. Hope it is just something like stress related that she can get away without any perm damages.

[birv2]

Best wishes and thoughts to you and Mrs. Blooz. If the docs say "nothing" is a good diagnosis, that's great news.

I had something similar happen several years ago, including the tingling in the arm. Turns out it was stress-related, a mini panic attack. I'm no doctor, but I thought I'd throw that out there just in case it's any help at all.

In any case, glad to hear you got some good news at the hospital and your wife is feeling more like her normal self.

Bob

[sumitomo]

Man that's scarry!Ive had to slow down since I had sugery 2 years ago,I can tell when I over do it I get a little dizzy.I sure hope she feels better and I'll lift her up also.Sumi:D

[oldguy]

Prayers and mojo sent your way, Blooz. Hope everything improves.

[tjcurtin1]

Blooz, good thoughts and wishes to you both - my dad recently had a similar episode. They never really found anything, but have put him on a blood thinner and he's fine - hope that same goes for your wife.

[bigoldron]

Our prayers are with you and your wife Blooz. I hope everything's OK, but it IS sometimes scarier when you DON'T know what's going on. Hopefully, your wife's doctors can nail down the cause and get her taken care of.

Good luck Brother Blooz and Mrs. Blooz!

[player]

Our prayers are with you and your wife Blooz. I hope everything's OK, but it IS sometimes scarier when you DON'T know what's going on. Hopefully, your wife's doctors can nail down the cause and get her taken care of.

Good luck Brother Blooz and Mrs. Blooz!
double ditto Blooz.just talked to someone that did have a mini stroke they're very scary and not humorous at all.hope your wife nails what Did happen down ASAP

[M29]

Your wife and family are in our prayers Blooz.

M29

[Kazz]

Blooz....you and your wife are definitely in my households thoughts and prayers.

[Bloozcat]

Thank you all very much for all your prayers, well wishes, and mojo. I really appreciate it.

Well, my wife came home last night and is 99% back to normal. Being the type A personality she is, it was a little difficult getting her to just take it easy last night, but she did at least try to. ;)

After just about every test that the doctors could think to run, all turned out negative (which is a good thing). So, the good news is the doctors couldn't really conclude anything from the tests....or so one would think. But, doctors being doctors, the neurologist insisted on calling the diagnosis a transient ischemic attack, or TIA (mini-stroke). All the tests did, it seems, is to indicate that my wife is extremely healthy. Perfect brain scan(s), clear arteries, clear lungs, perfect heart rate/blood pressure, blood lipids, etc., etc, etc; no indication of a stroke at all. So, I'm a little confused here. I've not had the opportunity to speak directly with the neurologist (yet), but as she lives right next door to a good friend of mine who's an opthamologist, I'm sure that the opportunity will arise sooner or later...either in her professional capacity or socially.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very appreciative of the doctors efforts and skill in treating my wife, and I don't wish to trivialize their skills in any way... especially the ER people who deserve more credit that I can give. They're tireless professionals who know their business. I just don't understand why some doctors can't say "I don't know" rather than holding fast to their diagnosis when every test they order fail to support that diagnosis in any way. I guess I'm just too wedded to scientific method in my thought process. If the results of the experiment (tests) don't support the hypothesis (diagnosis), then you have to conclude that the hypothesis is unsupported and you should go back and formulate a new hypothesis.

If the diagnosis was just some meaningless opinion, I wouldn't care. But, what concerns me is that it's now part of my wife's permanent medical record that she had a "stroke"...even if it's termed as "just" transient. In this day and age of medical insurance costs, that's not such a good thing I don't think.

Oh well, 25 years down the road I'm sure this will just look like another medical "speed bump" along the way...:D

[Katastrophe]

Geez, Blooz.

Continued mojo and prayers for a 100 per cent recovery for Mrs. Blooz, and for finding out what caused this in the first place.

[Jimi75]

I am only reading you post now, but I am shocked of what you write. I send all my mojo to you guys and I include you in my prayers! Take good care of your wife.

Jimi75

[Bloozcat]

I spoke to my friend Bob, the opthamologist last night. It's great to have a friend like Bob, who is an opthamologist, but an MD as well. He has spoken to his neighbor, the neurologist who treated my wife, and Bob explained to me the neurologists conclusions on the medical report. The "transient ischemic attack" as used in this instance is a way for the doctor to say that something did happen as evidenced by the symptoms my wife presented. But, the neurologist had no test evidence to show exactly what it was. That's the "transient" part of the TIA. So, rather than saying it was in fact, a mini-stroke, the neurologist is saying that some transient event occured that caused the tempory symptoms my wife presented with (geez, I'm even starting to sound like them!).

As explained by Bob, the event could have been a sudden constriction of an artery that interupted the blood flow to the brain, or even some similar kind of blood flow interuption within the brain. Whatever the reason, there was no residual damage...which is the best news. When I suggested to Bob that this TIA is sort of like a doctor's "catch all" to explain the unexplained, he just laughed and said that was pretty much it. So, the post event procedure is to monitor the patient for several weeks to ensure that there aren't any re-occurances, and if not, to simply write it off as a "transient" event.

Now, I have my own theory as to what may have happened here. My wife has been under an inordinate amount of stress lately, even by her normally stressful standards. It has been so bad that it has interupted her sleep patterns causing many nights of insomnia. Stress plus sleep deprivation is a formula for trouble...and there is plenty of case study evidence to support this.

So, I've finally convinced my wife to set a regular time each day to go to bed with a minimum number of hours sleep per night...and stick to it without exception. The work - and the stress - will still be there in the morning, only she'll then be in a better physical and mental state to tackle it. And after a brief consultation with my associate, Bob, he amusingly agreed with my diagnosis and treatment regimen....:D

[piebaldpython]

Great news Blooz!! Glad to hear your wife is improving. Let's hope (:D ), she sticks to your regimen to improve her health.

[Brian Krashpad]

Prayers and mojo!