Atypical Multiple Sclerosis

So, there I was in the hospital.  I landed there after several episodes of severe vertigo, slurred speech, incoordination, trouble walking (like my legs no longer communicated with my brain), extreme fatigue.  Hubby brought me into the ER of my local hospital.

When the triage nurse brought me in to get the particulars of my case it was clear something was wrong.  I could understand the nurse’s questions but took awhile to find the words, then slurred as I answered. Immediately, I was given a room in the ER.  Docs came in, ordered heart monitor, oxygen sensor on my finger.  You know the routine. Once the docs found out there was a family history of heart problems (I was 37 years old at the time-only a few years younger than my dad’s first heart attack), a nitro pill was stuck under my tongue.  

What a picture: me laying in a hospital bed with wires from my chest and fingers connected to beeping machines on the wall, blood pressure cuff automatically taking readings every few minutes, hubby and son (one on each side of the bed) holding my hands.  I think they were holding my hand out of worry themselves more than me.  I knew something was seriously wrong before this point, I knew the moment I “shut down” (see previous post:Back to the beginning). This was just the beginning of the rest of my life, just not in the way you normally think of it.

After my heart proved strong and healthy (knew it wasn’t my heart-it felt deeper than that-a permanent change).  Docs decided to keep me overnight for observation.  Something didn’t add up to them.  Not a stroke as I seemed to recover almost completely.  

The next morning the attending pcp went over the plan.  I was to have an MRI and/or CT scan, follow up with the attending neurologist and then discharged.  I’ll call the neurologist Dr. Headupmyarse.  I didn’t think of him like this at first but by the end of six months Headupmyarse is the nicest name I can think of.

Without even seeing or talking to me, Dr. Headupmyarse ordered only an MRI without constrast.  I had only a brain MRI.  I say only because I continue to have brain, c-spine, t-spine, and lumbar MRIs.  Anyway, this was my first foray into MRIs.  I hate tight spaces to begin with.  Yes, I did squeeze the panic bulb.  Several times. But I got through it and so did the techs.

Several hours late Dr. Headupmyarse came in to exam me. He slowly took down my story, painfully slow, but hey that’s a good thing, right. Then he examined me. Follow the finger  upon which I noticed and informed him that I was experiencing double vision. Then came the pin test. Basically, the doc bends an ordinary safety pin and pokes you like you’re a human pin cushion. My right side in general felt the poke but it felt dull, not sharp.  My right leg from the knee down felt nothing. I mean NOTHING! I watched the pin go in, felt nothing, saw look on hubby and son. Wow! That’s weird and not in a good way.  Dr. Headupmyarse didn’t really seem to show anything.  The test continued.  He took the end of his metal handled reflex hammer and ran it up the soles of my feet. NOTHING!  No response, felt nothing.

My son, whose favorite past time was trying to tickle my feet without getting kicked in the process. Kicking was an involuntary response when my feet were tickled. My son pushed past Dr. Headupmyarse and tried unsuccessfully to tickle me. He looked from me to his dad as my hubby explained to the doc how ticklish my feet used to be. Again no response from Dr. Headupmyarse.  Finally, he went to exam my MRI.

Good news! My MRI was clear except for one small white spot which was nothing to worry about. So what was wrong? Well, Dr. Headupmyarse decided and the way he explained it seem to make sense to us that it was probably seizures or TIAs. TIAs are small strokes that leave no permanent damage, but can lead to a massive stroke. His treatment plan called for me to go home and on Monday (it was currently Sunday) his office would call with an appointment for a TEE (trans-esophageal echocardiogram) which would rule out TIAs.  No EEG because several days before this hospitalization I had an EEG which, you guessed it, was normal- No signs of any seizure activity.

I went home.  My hubby, my son, and I drove home in silence. We figured it had to be TIAs becasue the EEG was normal.  And yes, I did go home and research TIAs and TEE on the internet.  Bad move, but I needed to because that was all I could do until the next day.  TIAs certainly were a permanent change, but after reading about them I didn’t really think I fit the description completely.  Although later I met a doc who told me sometimes diseases don’t read the textbooks and act differently or Atypically-sound familiar.