How it all began
Ive always be a clutz. I was the waitress who dropped things, the girl who fell of the city bus her first day of high school ( yes the city bus, how embarressing) but this time was different. I was a normal 27 year old, well normal by todays standards meaning I had a boyfriend and family and friends and not sure what I was really doing with my life but well on my way to finding out. I was due to start nursing school in september of 08. In february of 08 I went to sleep one night normal and woke up the next not so normal. I got in the shower and leaned against the wall and felt so dizzy I thought that I may pass out. It was the day before super bowl sunday I think that the Giants won that year but who the hell knows. I went to the package store to by some booze for the following days up and coming party and I noticed that my right hand and foot felt " funny" it was nothing spectacular so I just let it go.
The " funny" feeling continued. by Tuesday it was getting bad. I had to hold my right hand with my left to be able to brush my teeth and I was having trouble pressing on the break to stop my car. Now let me back up here. One I am the queen of OMG i have a cold im dying please save me I have to go to the DR. But I have no feeling in my right side and I wait 4 days to call a damn Dr. I know whoever you are out there reading this are saying reallllll swift. So I call my dr and inform her that I the brilliant nursing student to be have decided that I have had a STROKE and she shouldnt worry because I took an asprin!! I swear she was trying not to laugh at me diagnosing myself like a fool. She said I dont think u had a stroke but I want to see u right away and send u for an MRI to make sure u dont have MS. Just like that, just like it was water coming out of her mouth and not the worse senario that I could have thought of....
So Wednesday I treck to the Dr in freakin February which if you know CT its friggin cold in CT. So now im pissed that I have to lug all my anatomy school crap to the dr in the frigid February weather to go the the g-d dr's office. I had my appointment and went home. I was having so much trouble walking that I skipped my class.
Saturday morning I went for my MRI after working a 12 hour overnight shift. I laid on the table thinking what if I have a brain tumor? What if I do have MS? What will I do. I dont want to live with that. The only people that I ever knew with MS were cripples, laying in bed lonley and depressed..... I went home after my MRI walked up the stairs and promtley fell. Hard on my hands and almost wacked my face on the stairs. I decided that I wasnt going to work that night and I wasnt going to sleep until I heard from my dr. I waited for three hours until I finally went to sleep. When I woke up I had 3 calls from my drs office asking me to call back and then to have my dr paged immedialtley if I got the call after the office was closed.
I had the dr paged, she called me back and said that they found white spots in my brain and it looked like MS.
That monday I was seen by a neurologist and put in the hospital, I had a spinal tap ( which did come back positive for MS) and I had high doses of IV steriods and by thursday i could move the toes on my right foot!
I was sent home from the hospital, I could barley walk but I was denied for rehab by insurance co because I was :: as a nasty bitch of a PA put it ( your 27 and your not half dead). I had VNA, PT and OT. I also had to run IV steriods at home through a PICC line. I stayed out of work for three months until I was well enough to go back to work and stable on my new medication ( copaxone)
So thats it, thats my story. It sucks.... but for those of you out there suffering in silence, wondering will you ever feel whole again..........it does get better. it never goes away but it does get better...
