Friday night

I did not sleep. AT ALL.

I had another "episode" as I was leaving the ER, but it was not as bad. This time I was able to keep control of my arms and legs. I knew what was happening when it started happening and had been told to flex my arms/hands/legs if it happened again. It didn't last as long and I calmed down in just a few minutes.

I had at least 2 more instances (these were not dramatic enough to be "episodes") over the next few hours where my face went numb and that (thankfully) was all that happened. I had a very painful next few hours that involved many blood draws, IV's, and pain medication wearing off after an hour.

I had ANOTHER "episode" about 1:30 AM. I was having to keep my arm straight because every time I would move my arm the IV would come out. My face started going numb and I thought at first that was all that was going to happen. About 15 minutes later my hands and legs started going numb and I woke up my sister to get the nurse. A few minutes later I lost control of the muscles in my face (so they could really understand what I was saying) but I was able to flex my arms and legs and not lose control of them. It took me about 45 minutes to stop shaking and calm down from this one. My sister crawled in bed with me and basically held me down to keep me from shaking and kept telling me to "sniff the roses and blow out the candles" to get my breathing regular. She's such a good little OTA. :)

By this time they were telling me I was having anxiety attacks and the numbness was from me hyperventilating. I refuse to believe this because every time my face started going numb first. We learned later that my Dilantin level was low, which can cause numbness, and my theory is that when my face and hands started going numb and I became unable to move my hands I may have had anxiety attacks.

The rest of the night consisted of (in this order) leg ultrasound to make sure I had no blood clots, another IV where I had to lay flat on my back without moving my arm for an hour, a lung CT, a 45 minute wait on a stretcher in the hall, and some kind of heart scan (I want to say it was an X-ray, but I'm not sure). Everything was normal. I can't wait to get this hospital bill... the last one was $64,000.00. THANK GOD for insurance!!!