So, here we are in Korea. Tomorrow we head back to our sweet daughter-oh how I miss her!
Our time here was quite different than I expected. By the time we flew in, picked up our rented phone, found the bus, sat on the bus FOREVER because of the rainstorm and traffic, missed our stop and walked back from the next one, it was 8:30 at night. Add finding our place, dropping our stuff, and eating dinner it was quite late by the time we crashed.
The next day, Wednesday, we headed out about 10:00, wandered around, found a Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and began navigating the subway to find the hospital--suddenly we were nearly late!
We met with the neurologist and he was very knowledgeable. He felt due to the combination of migraines and the brain "lesion", as they kept referring to it, there is quite likely a hole in the heart allowing blood to pass from one side to the other where it really wasn't supposed to...and allowing tiny blood clots to head to the brain. In order to get all the testing done quickly, he opted to admit me...and I've spent the past 2 1/2 days in the hospital now! So much for seeing Korea between appointments! (And thank goodness for good insurance!)
Well, after all the testing, they have found that indeed I do have some blood going where it shouldn't, but they can not find the hole. Further testing would require an invasive procedure and at this point the risks outweigh the benefits. Therefore, for now, I am to do my best to prevent headaches through lifestyle changes (avoiding dehydration and migraine triggers, and making sure to exercise regularly). After I am done nursing Matthew, I will go on some type of blood thinner, probably a small amount of Aspirin a day, to prevent clots. Then in a year or so we will redo some testing to make sure nothing has gotten worse.
How do I feel? Relieved that it is not something scary such as cancer or MS. A little bummed that all I can do is treat the headaches. So glad to be headed back to Lizbeth. Relieved that we're not dealing with surgery right now with two little ones! In some ways it feels like this was an expensive way to find out very little, but in other ways it is such a relief. Thank you for all of your prayers! We have been blessed in so many ways through this time!
Our time here was quite different than I expected. By the time we flew in, picked up our rented phone, found the bus, sat on the bus FOREVER because of the rainstorm and traffic, missed our stop and walked back from the next one, it was 8:30 at night. Add finding our place, dropping our stuff, and eating dinner it was quite late by the time we crashed.
The next day, Wednesday, we headed out about 10:00, wandered around, found a Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and began navigating the subway to find the hospital--suddenly we were nearly late!
We met with the neurologist and he was very knowledgeable. He felt due to the combination of migraines and the brain "lesion", as they kept referring to it, there is quite likely a hole in the heart allowing blood to pass from one side to the other where it really wasn't supposed to...and allowing tiny blood clots to head to the brain. In order to get all the testing done quickly, he opted to admit me...and I've spent the past 2 1/2 days in the hospital now! So much for seeing Korea between appointments! (And thank goodness for good insurance!)
Well, after all the testing, they have found that indeed I do have some blood going where it shouldn't, but they can not find the hole. Further testing would require an invasive procedure and at this point the risks outweigh the benefits. Therefore, for now, I am to do my best to prevent headaches through lifestyle changes (avoiding dehydration and migraine triggers, and making sure to exercise regularly). After I am done nursing Matthew, I will go on some type of blood thinner, probably a small amount of Aspirin a day, to prevent clots. Then in a year or so we will redo some testing to make sure nothing has gotten worse.
How do I feel? Relieved that it is not something scary such as cancer or MS. A little bummed that all I can do is treat the headaches. So glad to be headed back to Lizbeth. Relieved that we're not dealing with surgery right now with two little ones! In some ways it feels like this was an expensive way to find out very little, but in other ways it is such a relief. Thank you for all of your prayers! We have been blessed in so many ways through this time!
2 comments:
Oh, I'm glad that you were able to get so far with this in just a few short days! But it's always a little annoying to hear that lifestyle changes are the only real treatment "until things get worse". Ugh. Small children do not make it any easier. :)
I'm relieved.
So you seem to be better...better taking care of yourself.
How are you doing with the headaches, especially during Christmas. This was interesting to read again. A very scary time this was.
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