Oh No, Back in the Hospital

These strokes are capricious things...they sneak up on you, often without warning. On the other hand, sometimes there is ample warning...and that's what happened this time.

For the last several weeks, there have been warning signs that another stroke is possibly looming in the future:

• A couple of episodes of double vision.
• About five episodes of numbness of the left arm from shoulder to finger tips, lasting a minute or two.
• A persistent headache just behind the right eye, sometimes lasting for more than a day at a time.
• On Sunday a large island of numbness in the right side of the face.

During a visit with Bettie's nutrition counselor on Tuesday, these symptoms were all discussed and he said it was time to see just what was going on...NOW. So off to the emergency room once again, this time at Valley Medical Center. We choose VMC for a couple of reasons:

1. They are a little better equipped for this kind of stuff than Auburn.
2. They have all my medical records.

That's right, MY records. You didn't think this was about Bettie did you? She's coming along OK, this time it is my issue.

Being male and basically invincible, I've been noticing the issues mentioned above and, because none of them (except the headache) last for more than a minute or so, pretty much ignoring them. But when the facial numbness occurred on Sunday, I realized that this could be pretty serious. Since I was scheduled for a visit with Bettie's nutrition coach on Tuesday for my own issues, I mentioned everything to him.

So here I am, blogging from a hospital bed at VMC while they poke, prod, scan, and otherwise make like doctors. I had to stay the night Tuesday and may have to Wednesday as well, simply because of the number of tests they want to do.

Meanwhile, Bettie is being cared for by our son Rick.

It is nice that I have access to the web from bed here, but it is very difficult logistically. The monitor is across the room and the controls to type and edit are unfamiliar. I'll post this now, and then edit it tomorrow when I get home, assuming nothing serious is found that precludes it. (Talk about serious...a few minutes ago the nurse came in and said I had flat-lined...she quickly discovered that one of my heart monitor cords had unplugged. Whew, that was close.)

__________ Update __________

I did, in fact stay both Tuesday and Wednesday nights and had a good going over. I had my head in a scanner three different times...you'd think they could find something in there with all of that, wouldn't you. Also had blood work and a echo analysis of my heart for half an hour. I'll revisit some of the specialists soon to get the fine details. But for the most part, everything checked OK. I need to be taking asprin every day as a cheap, effective blood thinner, and of course, no more having secret issues that I keep to myself. It turns out that I am not invincible...imagine that.