Donna & fatigue Re: I'm back!!!

[Guest guest]

As far as the fatigue goes I have been on Provigil and Ritalin. They both work great for fatigue but my severe dry mouth is horribly worse. I had to make a hard decision and stop the drugs for fatigue to try to save my mouth. lolhugs)))Sharon

Subject: I'm back!!!

To: MSersLife

Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2009, 7:36 AM

In the fold, if not the groove, once

again....

Long long story.. but then it's been over a month in the process...

Fell in March.. partial tear left ACL... but this wasn't found until

nearly the end of April when I was able to get an MRI of the knee...

Did

go to the E.R. the day of the fall.. doctor there put on an immobilizer

and told me to see an Orthopedic Surgeon ASAP... I picked the wrong

one!!!! He told me to take the immobilizer off and throw it away.. that

I fell because I have MS... ummm NO SHIT SHERLOCK is what I wanted to

scream in his face.. he wasn't telling me anything I didn't already

know... but it was the first fall I'd had this year.. seems that this

has been coming on for while.. but the other falls.. at least one of

them I put down to having my foot tangled in the straps of my purse

which was under the desk where I was sitting.. those falls didn't

damage

anything but my pride..

Saw my PCP about the knee bout the 19th of March or so.. he ordered an

MRI since it had been a month since the fall and hadn't gotten any

better.. he also told me that the ACE brace I was using, didn't really

help the situation any.. didn't hurt it, just didn't actually do

anything to help... but that if I felt my knee was more stable wearing

it, to by all means continue to wear it.. so I did...

The day of the MRI, thereabouts, I noticed a small circle on my belly

that was completely numb.. blew it off, thinking maybe it was a

reaction

to the injections.. but also "knowing" it would pass in a matter of

hours or somewhere close to that.. and it wasn't any place really

noticeable.. provided I wasn't wearing jeans.. and being as it was a

Saturday I wasn't wearing jeans.. lol

It's a blur, now, from that point forward... just that the next I

noticed the numbness had spread from the left side of my belly button,

to just under my left breast, and to the left thigh.. unfortunately, it

also spread around to my spine on the left side, and yes my butt cheek

was numb as well...

I went to work on Wednesday.. having to be really really careful,

because my left leg wasn't working.. boss noticed it right away, and

told me to take it easy and at my own pace type thing.. I did work Wed,

Thurs & Fri.. it was the last week of the month and things HAD to

be

ready to go in the mail!... I was in the ER that Wednesday evening

after

work.. the doctor there confirmed it was an "acute flare of multiple

sclerosis".. which is what I told him when I arrived at the ER... but

that the gals in the PCP's office would NOT squeeze me in to see him

that day.. but told me to come to the ER.. so I did... (ER doc did a CT

Scan..guess to rule out a stroke, so he could confirm what I told

him).. the ER sent me home with strict instructions for the gals in

the

office, coming from the other doctor in the practice that they WERE to

SQUEEZE me in the very next day........ they wouldn't.. best I could

get

was the physician's assistant.... but I couldn't get to the appointment

when they wanted me there.. they couldn't wait an extra 15 minutes for

me to get there..

On Monday, I called my neurologist to get an appointment.. soonest I

could get in to see them was the 26th of May.. this was around the 1st

or so... So I spoke with the nurse that the neurology group has on

staff.. she assured me that if the soonest they could get me in was the

26th that they had done their best to find me a slot.. that was fine..

I

know they are an extremely busy practice.. the leading neuro in the

area

(Rock Heyman)... his practice is going to be... but after talking to

her

a few minutes she suggested that I come to Presbyterian ER asking for

neuro consult when I arrived.. and to arrive very early in the morning

(by 10 that ER waiting room was so packed that there was less than

standing room only.. it was still that way at 10 that night when

left!!!!)..

So Friday the 8th, I arrived at the ER, just before the onslaught,

because we overslept.. were planning to leave here by 6 a.m.. didn't

leave until 8:30..... was ushered in.. saw I don't know how many

doctors.. the residents, the attendings, and more than several others..

all of which told me that they were pretty sure that I was going to be

admitted.. and I was....

Now the fun started... lol.. bout 8:30 at night, or so.. give or take a

minute or two.. the neurologist who was seeing me through the ER came

into my room I had just been settled in to.. after having a Spine

MRI...she tells me that.. my insurance will not pay for my stay at

Presby... but they will pay for my stay at McGee.. (both of which are

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center hospitals)... and they are only

two or so blocks apart.. so I'm being transferred there.. as soon as

McGee had a bed for me and they could arrange ambulance transport.. ..

they also decided to start the first course of Solumedrol so as to not

postpone until who knows when possibly even the following morning.. and

off to McGee (which happened to be a hospital specializing in high risk

pregnancies.. since UPMC took over, they've opened their doors to other

stuff)...

By Saturday morning the feeling had started to return in my leg.. (oh..

think I forgot.. I had gone numb from breast down on the left side...

to

the very tips of my toes.. and my leg would not support me).... which I

thought was great and that by Monday, I'd be walking again on my own,

without my cane... uhhhhhhh... WRONG....

I now have a walker.. and new wheelchair for jaunts to the doctor and

really bad days around the house, or if I want to attempt some type of

housework... (the one I had was a dinosaur from the 60's that my dad

bought used in the early 70s for my grandmother)...

I've got orders for a brain MRI.. (oh.. spine MRI results.. very large

enhancing lesion at T4 of the spine.. with non-enhancing lesions at C3

&

C4.. oh.. and the spine works the same way as the brain.. things

happening on the right side, affect the left side).... and I've got

tons

of blood work that needs to be completed.. I saw a neurologist

specializing in movement disorders on the 26th of May.. I really

really

liked her.. did too.. and he doesn't take to well to any doctor

regardless.. but she referred me on to Doctor , the 2nd doctor

specializing in MS in the group... (it's Heyman & ).. she's

also

ordered the blood test to hopefully rule out Devic's Disease..

First that I even heard that Devic's was a possibility..but I think

she's not really concerned with it so much as to have nothing come back

later to bite anyone's butt... but then again.. this thing with the

visual acuity that's been going on forever.. is actually something to

do

with the MonSter.. and there was something else that I learned, but

can't remember right this minute...

But one important thing that I learned while in the hospital, that I'm

not sure anyone in the group is aware of.. so I'm going to pass it

on...

Should you find yourself in the position to need Solumedrol

(methylprednsoldone or some such name.. same thing)... they should be

monitoring your blood sugar levels 4 times a day while on the stuff...

and insulin injected as needed... The guys at Pittsburgh, at least,

have

found that the steroids cause sugar levels to spike during treatment..

therefore the insulin to counter act the spike.. it also helped me to

know this was going to happen, so I watched what I ordered for my

meals.. why cause a larger spike in glucose than I needed to...

And after all of this gobbled-dee-gook.. what it amounts to is.. I've

had a major exacerbation.. and am not able to go back to work, at least

not until I can climb stairs safely.. or she gets a new building all on

one floor... but the one thing I know for sure.. being home 24/7 has

pretty much driven me nutsy koo-koo.. lol

Hope everyone else is doing well...

|)onna