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Waiting Anxiously
Dec. 15th, 2020 06:23 pm Hopefully, while I'm writing this, I will get the text from Shawn that she's all done at United and the MRI showed nothing to be concerned about. But, right now, I'm anxiously waiting to hear from her.
Some time last night, Shawn developed what she thinks is a new migraine symptom: a weak right arm. She, of course, initially worried she might be having a heart attack or a stroke, but she quickly ruled that out. Doctor Google led her to something called a hemiplegic migraine that can cause the sensation of weakness on one side of the body. She assumes that's what's happening.
She's had all sorts of worrying paresthesia that comes and goes with her migraines for the past several years. So, she's no stranger to weird new symptoms. However, after our big hospital stay a couple of years ago, Shawn errs on the side of caution. She decided she just did not like how she was feeling and so had me take her to Urgent Care around 2:30 pm.
No doctor anywhere likes to hear the words numbness or weak feeling on one side of your body, so I KNEW that we were going to end up heading to United for an MRI. Doctors want to "rule out" strokes. I mean, I want them to want that? But, thanks to COVID, I can't go in and wait with Shawn. She also was delayed in getting treated because she had to have a rapid COVID test (I'm not sure what they do if she tested positive? Refuse to treat her? Or just wear more protective gear?)
At any rate, with all those delays she sent me home (I had been parked in the car outside) around 5 pm, because she was, at that point, still in a room with an IV drip waiting to go into the MRI. I heard from her via text at 5:30 pm that they had administered a sedative (she's claustrophobic) and was headed in.
Now I'm just waiting, anxiously to hear that she's right and that this is all just some weird new migraine symptom?? Fingers crossed???
I emailed a friend about this and one of the hard things about going home without Shawn is that it all feels very reminiscent of when we were convinced Shawn just had an annoyingly stubborn stomach flu and discovered, instead, that she had an extremely rare superior mesenteric vein thrombosis (a blood clot in a vein that leaves her intestines,) which is the sort of thing that can kill you, because the intestines can start to die. She was hospitalized for seven days.
So, I mean, Shawn has good instincts about when to go to Urgent Care?
Which doesn't actually make the waiting easier.
-----
UPDATE: Shawn has been discharged. I'm on my way to pick her up. Will fill-in the whole story tomorrow! Thank you all for your thoughts and support.
Some time last night, Shawn developed what she thinks is a new migraine symptom: a weak right arm. She, of course, initially worried she might be having a heart attack or a stroke, but she quickly ruled that out. Doctor Google led her to something called a hemiplegic migraine that can cause the sensation of weakness on one side of the body. She assumes that's what's happening.
She's had all sorts of worrying paresthesia that comes and goes with her migraines for the past several years. So, she's no stranger to weird new symptoms. However, after our big hospital stay a couple of years ago, Shawn errs on the side of caution. She decided she just did not like how she was feeling and so had me take her to Urgent Care around 2:30 pm.
No doctor anywhere likes to hear the words numbness or weak feeling on one side of your body, so I KNEW that we were going to end up heading to United for an MRI. Doctors want to "rule out" strokes. I mean, I want them to want that? But, thanks to COVID, I can't go in and wait with Shawn. She also was delayed in getting treated because she had to have a rapid COVID test (I'm not sure what they do if she tested positive? Refuse to treat her? Or just wear more protective gear?)
At any rate, with all those delays she sent me home (I had been parked in the car outside) around 5 pm, because she was, at that point, still in a room with an IV drip waiting to go into the MRI. I heard from her via text at 5:30 pm that they had administered a sedative (she's claustrophobic) and was headed in.
Now I'm just waiting, anxiously to hear that she's right and that this is all just some weird new migraine symptom?? Fingers crossed???
I emailed a friend about this and one of the hard things about going home without Shawn is that it all feels very reminiscent of when we were convinced Shawn just had an annoyingly stubborn stomach flu and discovered, instead, that she had an extremely rare superior mesenteric vein thrombosis (a blood clot in a vein that leaves her intestines,) which is the sort of thing that can kill you, because the intestines can start to die. She was hospitalized for seven days.
So, I mean, Shawn has good instincts about when to go to Urgent Care?
Which doesn't actually make the waiting easier.
-----
UPDATE: Shawn has been discharged. I'm on my way to pick her up. Will fill-in the whole story tomorrow! Thank you all for your thoughts and support.