Hey there, boys and girls! I finally have a laptop, so I thought I'd give an update without hunting and pecking and squinting into my phone.
TLDR version:
I can't walk.
Verbose version: Last Tuesday morning I attempted to get up to pee, but my legs had other ideas. Over the last 3-4 months, this strange weakness/tiredness/numbness started making my upright time shorter and shorter, like I could stand in my kitchen to make overnight oats, and also be running back and forth letting the dog out and in, bringing in mail and packages, putting away groceries, etc., 45 minutes or more at a time. But then my legs started feeling weak and tired, and I kept having to sit down--and the time standing got shorter and shorter until it was zero. I saw my primary care physician twice--once in April then two weeks later, in May, to review labs. As with every other issue I've EVER had, everything was normal. But I was not. He said I needed physical therapy, and you can probably guess how that went over... I said "I CAN'T WALK. I CAN'T FEEL MY [BLEEPING] FEET ON THE FLOOR. MY LEGS ARE NUMB!
" So I asked for a referral to a neurologist, which I got--but that doctor was away for several weeks, with a first available appointment the second week of July, which I took.
Last Tuesday, I looked down to make sure both feet were flat on the floor and stood up; I attempted to take a step--and fell over like a tree being cut down. The back of my head bounced off my hardwood floor. 911 was called, I went to the same hospital that saved my life when septic shock shut down three organs. We spent days trying to figure out WTF.
When I got there, I was 100% sure that it was my spinal stenosis progressing to cauda equina syndrome--and the ER doctor agreed, it fit perfectly. We got the results from the spine MRI....and it said SORRY, YOU'RE WRONG!! I was admitted, various specialties saw me, including multiple neurologists, many tests were done, and while there the numbness kept creeping upward; it had been about waist-level upon arrival, it was now just under my breasts.
Along the way, I had an abdominal CT scan--because I hadn't been pooping--and that night a surgeon came bursting into my room and asked "are you aware of your appendix?" Uh....I know I HAVE one. "You have appendicitis. You should be in extreme pain. If we don't get it out right away, it'll rupture and you'll get sepsis, and you've already survived that once. We don't want it to happen again." "So....RIGHT NOW?" "Tomorrow." And out went my appendix. To my surprise, I was in A LOT of post-op pain!
There's much more involved, but I've been transferred to another hospital and we're still trying to hone in on the actual issue. Guillain Barre Syndrome was initially ruled out based on the lumbar puncture, however the doctors here feel that that isn't a definitive way of ruling it out. Like you can rule it *in* based on spinal fluid proteins, but not necessarily *out*--so we're talking plasmaphoresis and/or IVIG treatment. Everything's up in the air, and I'm sure if you know me, you know dealing with uncertainty is not my forte--I like everything to be clear, logical, make sense, let's do X and then Y will happen... But right now, no, it's not like that. Also, since admission, I've blown no less than 20 IVs, so they're going to insert a PICC- or midline today. Back in my 6-month sepsis hospitalization, I always had PICC lines. We'll see.
Hope you're all well and happy. Is it hot enough for you where you are? We're in for [yet more] record-breaking hot temperatures...