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!!!

I haven't updated this thing

Because I've been stuck in the hospital since Friday... got to go home last night. I'll be slowly updating everything as I feel up to it.

Friday I went for the CT scan. I had to wait FOREVER. OK, maybe not really forever but when you're so sick you can't hold your head up an hour feels like forever. While I was in the waiting room, I had what we are going refer to as an "episode" since no one seems to know exactly what happened. My face and arms/hands started to go numb and clench into fists. I had no control of my arms or hands and had difficulty speaking. The people who saw what happened thought I was having a seizure. My mom went to get someone and they brought a stretcher to the waiting room and took me to the ER. (This happened to be during the Good Friday Mass and someone had pulled the fire alarm, so there were all kinds of flashing lights and sirens... NOT a good thing for someone who has just gone through something like that and has a migraine-style headache!) After I got to the ER it took them another 30 minutes or so to get me calmed down, did blood work, got some morphine for pain (I just had to mention to the ER doctor that my doctor wouldn't give me anything but Darvocet for the pain and he made sure I got something while I was still in his care), had an MRI, and was admitted until they could figure out what was happening.

Going back to the doctor tomorrow... I called today because I just keep getting worse instead of improving and they said needed to either 1) go to the ER at St. Vincent's or 2)go get a CT tomorrow and come by the clinic. So option 2 it is for now, unless I start feeling worse tonight. My mom is staying with me tonight and going to the doctor with me tomorrow.

Blogging

Is therapeutic. Forgive me for any typos as I can't actually see most of what I'm typing. :)

I feel like all I do on here is complain, but it helps me! It also helps me remember all my symptoms so I can look back if I need to.

This morning started off really bad... On a scale of 1-10 (1 being a minor annoyance and 10 being reserved ONLY for childbirth) my pain was about a 8. I stayed in bed until about... well I have no idea, but I know at some point I tried to eat breakfast and lunch. I ended up taking a muscle relaxer and going back to bed. I just rested and slept off and on most of the day. Greg moved the TV to where i don't have to lay on my back to watch movies in the bedroom. My neck is too stiff to turn my head and my head starts hurting when I'm up for more than 30 minutes or so.

I feel a lot better now. I managed to eat a little bit for dinner and am fixing to drug myself up on Tylenol PM and a muscle relaxer so I can sleep.

I miss my little pookey bear. :(

Bad day...

Warning: Do not read any further unless you want to hear about my inability to vomit.

Today has been my worst day so far... I woke up around 7, but didn't actually get out of bed until 11 or so. We had to drive to Little Rock to get my staples out. I was fine while she was taking them out but I got sick as soon as we walked out of the office. I'm one of those people that lacks the ability to throw up, so I stood in the hallway dry heaving and just wishing I could get anything up for a few minutes. It was not fun. I haven't been able to eat anything today and I feel all shaky and sick to my stomach.

My mom met us in Little Rock and Papaw and Betty are going to keep Jaina for us the rest of the week. Greg said I was doing too much. :( I'll miss the little booger but I guess it's more important for me to get better.

I still can't wash my hair until tomorrow... oh, well. I guess I've had enough excitement for one day! The nurse did say I can take Tylenol PM to sleep so MAYBE I'll get a full night of sleep tonight.

Tomorrow

Getting my staples out! All 41 of them... I took a picture but I'm too chicken to post it right now. My scar will not be hard to cover up at all with as much hair as I have. I'm probably looking forward to it the most just so I can actually wash my hair without help. I will never take for granted being able to wash my hair or shave my legs again. LOL.

I only slept about 4 hours last night/this morning. I woke up about 4 AM with my entire left side in pain. I almost feel like I have a pinched nerve or something and I can't sleep on the other side for fear of being smacked in the back of the head by a certain heavy sleeper... named Greg... yeah.

We went and picked up my prescription for glasses and I ordered some online. I've never ordered any from here before, but I got 2 pairs for $20 with shipping. If I like them, I may just order more and have a different pair of glasses for every outfit. OR not. :)

The positive side of all this is that I've lost about 15 pounds without even trying. I'm thinking that might be motivation I need to keep up with it this time. I weigh less now (by about 10 pounds) than before I got preggers with Jaina.

I have decided

That my life is perfect. :)

I woke up this morning to breakfast in bed, Clifford the Big Red Dog blaring at the top of the TV, and a sweet little girl running around with my (clean) underwear on her head. It just doesn't get any better than that. LOL.

We have to make a trip out of the house today. This should be interesting. My glasses are about to fall apart (my mom already took them and got them repaired enough to hold me another few days or so...) so I need to get some more ordered before they completely disintegrate... I'm just not feeling up to wearing contacts right now.

So tired...

I managed to answer a ton of emails and facebook posts today until my head started spinning uncontrollably... so if I haven't made my way to you yet, I promise I will!

I noticed earlier when writing thank-you cards that my handwriting has changed a little and it takes a lot of effort for me to sit and type something out. It's almost like my fingers are moving faster than my mind can think. Kind of scary. I get my staples out Tuesday so i might mention something to the nurse then, but surely that's somewhat normal, right?

I might have messed up and picked up Jaina today... all 24 pounds of her. She was throwing a little tantrum and hit her head on the floor, so I had to! I'm learning really fast that I can't do that! We figured out tonight that everything just goes a whole lot smoother if I just sit in the floor and let her play with me instead of me trying to get her to hang out with me on the couch. She's a lot happier that way and can come and go as she pleases... not to mention I'm a lot less likely to forget and try to pick her up.

OK, I guess I'll go to bed. I'm putting it off because I think if I stay awake later, I won't wake up until morning. My headaches are the worst during the night and if I wake up during the night I will sometimes be up for a couple of hours before I can go back to sleep.

Back among the living!!!!

AAH! It's so cool to be able to see the computer screen again! No more double vision!

Apparently I had the only 2 side effects of my surgery that my doctor had never seen... double vision (considering he operated no where near that part of my brain) and my left vocal chord was paralyzed. I'm almost back to normal. I still have a massive headache (and am loopy on pain pills...woo hoo!), but I'm sooo much better.

Thank you so much for all the cards, phone calls, flowers, food, and especially PRAYERS over the past couple of weeks. Love you all!

Update from Greg

Hello everyone! Jessi's surgery went very well. The operation took about 3 hours, which was less than they originally thought. The tumor was indeed benign, so there shouldn't be any more complicatioms. It was however the size of a golf ball, and left indentions on each side of it. Again nothing that should be serious.

She will be in ICU at least until tomorrow. I'll get a room number at St Vincents when I can. She's in a lot of pain and nautious but the worst should be behind us.

Thanks to everyone for the help and visits as well as keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.


Greg

oops

I'm adork. I meant st Vincent

The pre-testing and everything went great today. They said I passed. I have to be at St. Joseph's at 5:00 in the morning and the surgery will start around 7:30. They took 6 or 7 vials of blood, did a chest x-ray, EKG, and asked me about a billion questions. I'll be having an MRI in the morning when I get there.

Jordan should be updating everyone on facebook and I might be able to talk Greg into updating this blog. She'll also have my phone so feel free to text if she forgets- 501-514-8383.

And to answer the question EVERYONE has been asking me the past few days... No, I'm not worried. I have faith in God and faith in my doctor. I am a little nervous, but who wouldn't be?

Ok, well...

As everyone already knows, I am having surgery March 16 at St. Vincent’s. I have to be there at 5:00 AM and they said they would take me back about 7:30. I have a small tumor on my brain that I have known about for a few years. It was found “accidentally” when I started having headaches and was sent for an MRI, although the tumor is not what causes my headaches. I have most likely had it since birth. At first I was told that it would never really grow and I would probably never have to have it removed. My pregnancy seemed to set it off and it has grown by about 30% within the last couple of years. It is not affecting me in any way right now, but could start at any point. My surgeon (Dr. Krisht) feels confident that this is a benign tumor, but that will be checked after it is removed. The surgery should be relatively simple (if that can be said for a brain surgery) and, in my doctor’s words, “If you are going to have a brain tumor, this is where you want to have it.” The surgery should only last a few hours and I should be in the hospital less than a week, provided there are no complications. My total recovery time/time off work is a minimum of 8 weeks.

yay

I can now successfully blog from my phone. You just might hear from me a little more often.

No work for me...

Because Jaina's temp is over 100... so she can't go to school. Greg is sick and he just left feeling pretty bad, too. :(

Ugh

Can I have the flu without having fever? My body aches all over... my hips and back and arms and neck and legs. I've been dry heaving since last night when we got home and haven't really had anything to eat all day. Jaina's still sick and Greg says his throat hurts. My mom came to take care of us. She's going to take the two of us to the doctor tomorrow so Greg can go to work.

Happy Birthday

to Candie and Chrystal!!!

It's Saturday!

Which means I got to sleep until about 7:30! Jaina slept through the night, which is great since neither of us slept much Thursday night. I'm now enjoying my coffee and some quiet time since Jaina decided it was time for a nap. She still doesn't feel good, but hasn't had any fever since yesterday afternoon.

Jaina has, in the past couple of days, figured out how to point. She'll point to Greg and say, "da?" It's adorable, but I think everything she does is adorable. She's also been shaking her head (but I don't think she understands what she's doing when she does it) and walking. Yes, I said it. My child is walking. She can take a couple of steps by herself and walk circles around the living room if she's holding my hand. I know she can do it by herself, she's just too much of a little chicken. I'm not pushing her, though. She'll do it when she's ready and she's only 10 months old! I don't want her to grow up too fast!

Jaina's New School

Is awesome!!! Ms. Carrie's Day School

We walked in the doors the first time and it was so clean and organized and it smelled good.... I could go on and on! We have our own code to get in the door, and if you don't have a code you have to have the office let you in. They plan out their menus by the month, and its of course not always super healthy, but they haven't fed her anything I didn't OK.

This last week has been tough on my little Jaina bear. She's been a little confused because of the two different new places and now has a nasty runny nose/cold that matches the rest of them in her class. She was running fever for a little while this afternoon but I'm not sure if it's because of the flu shot she had this morning or because of the cold).

When I went in this morning to drop Jaina off, the lady in the office came to talk to me. She just said, "Merry Christmas, you don't have to pay for the next two weeks. Santa Claus came early." And that's all she would tell me... It's amazing how every time times have been really tough and we've not known how we would make it to the next week (financially) something has come up and God's taken care of us.

Yesterday

Yesterday wasn't any better. I had a chat with the owner when I dropped Jaina off. Apparently they don't offer menus because they decide spur-of-the-moment what they are having for lunch... so I asked what they were having that particular day (so I would know if I should ask her to feed her baby food) and they told me they were having turkey soup. I called to check in on her after lunch and they'd fed her fish sticks and french fries. I was not happy with them AT ALL, not necessarily because of what they fed her, but because they told me something else. THEN they called me back about 15 minutes later to tell me Jaina was having watery diarrhea... WONDER WHY???

She's starting a new "school" this morning. It's not JUST the food, but I've had some other security issues with them. I called DHS and had a nice little chat with the lady over day care licensing. She said my concerns are very legitimate and she's going to pay them a visit in the next couple of days.