Welcome to a very special blog entry! According to the
calendar, it's been 1,363 days since I started this blog. Doing the math,
1+3+6+3=13. The thirteenth letter in the alphabet is M. M is the Roman numeral
for 1,000; 1+0+0+0=1. One is the number associated with the first occurrence of
something. Obviously, the universe wants me to revisit my first entries and
write them in such a way that they aren't so dull.
Listen, when I was first started on this
"injourney" (for an explanation of this term, click HERE), I didn't realize
that my life would be so completely transformed; as such, I figured I'd just
blog short updates with just the facts, Jack. Moreover, there weren't Android
tablets (boo Apple!) with slide keyboards, and typing was/is slow and frustrating.
I have since discovered the convenience of Android tablets (boo Apple!) with
slide keyboards, (this blog brought to you by Android tablets with slide
keyboards: "Be a man, get an Android - be a mAndroid (if you're a girl, be
a womAndroid)"). I've since abandoned brevity and adopted a wordy, verbose
style of writing. With that, I'm going to revisit the joyless entries from July of 2009 to March of 2010. I'm
not going to rewrite them per se, but
I will give a more thorough explanation of what was going on at the time. This
also gives me a chance to really examine the progress that I've made.
Looking at my first entries, and being the overachiever that
I am, I'm going to revisit July 1st AND July 2nd. I will chunk entries together
for some brevity (but not much). I will start with these entries -
How it Began...
Hello Internet! In the
manner of my father and so many before him, this blog was created to keep my
circle of people informed about what’s going on in my head (literally).
It all started the week
of May 17-23. I noticed a slight headache on Monday that persisted the whole
week. On Thursday night the pain became excruciating. Friday, I still had the
headache and started throwing up. I skipped work that day and went to my GP.
The good doctor gave me shots for pain and nausea/vomiting, he told me to go to
the ER and get a CT Scan if the headache didn’t go away by the next day to go get scanned. It
didn’t. Jessica took me to the ER on Saturday and I got my head scanned. By
this time, I was having a little trouble with anything fine-motor related, my
left side was going numb and my right eye was drooping (in addition to the
headache).
The ER
An abnormality was
found on the scans at Wilson N. Jones in Sherman, as a result I was flown
(that's right, in a helicopter) to Zale Lipshy in Dallas. So my great adventure
begins...at 1:00am on a Sunday morning.
The Diagnosis
The doctors at Zale
told me I have a brain hemorrhage called a Cavernoma (more info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavernoma). My stay at Zale lasted 4 days, after
which I went home...at this time I was starting to have major balance problems
and Jess and I picked up Strep Throat.
My family is no stranger to major
illness - I've already mentioned my nephew with the congenital heart
defect .Add to that my pa - he was diagnosed with
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in March of 2004 - between the three of us,
we've got the critical life systems covered: circulatory (pops),
cardiovascular (nephew), and nervous (me). My nephew has already had
two heart surgeries with a third scheduled in a few months - he will
have had three open heart surgeries before turning four. There's a
blog about him on carepages.com - if you're a registered user, search
for "little brave heart". I was turned on to blogging by my
dad and his blog (found HERE).
Especially noteworthy in his case is his shiny, chipper disposition
despite three relapses. After the last relapse in early 2011, it was
determined that my father's immune system wasn't cutting the
cancerous mustard (canstard?). As such, the doctors destroyed his
immune system to make way for a new one. He received a bone marrow
transplant in late 2011, and has been cancer free ever since. That's
not to say that life has become a cake-walk (mmm...walk, err). Traces
of his old immune system are still jabbing at his new immune system
like so much over-the-hill boxer. While his new immune system is busy
with his old immune system, Mr. Influenza sneaks in and squats. I
could go on about the negative things that my father continues to go
through, instead I'll tell you about how he's still laughing and
carrying on. If I'm inspiring it's only because he and my nephew have
shown me what it means to inspire.
Concerning the portion of "How it Began" that deals with, uhh...how it began - the reason I remember the dates so well is because that Friday (May 22nd) was field trip day. Our academic team was going to the holocaust museum in Dallas. Listen, a field trip for a teacher is quiet dreadful; I wasn't upset that I didn't get to see the holocaust museum, but I was upset that I wouldn't be there to help the other teachers - I got up that morning determined to go, but I started ralphing in the shower. I went to see my family doctor, threw up some more (I must've eaten a lot the night before). He asked me what I thought might be the problem; I ominously replied, "near as I can figure, I've had a stroke." I laughed. He didn't. The pain shot he gave me lasted about an hour. My headache persisted into the next day, so I went to the ER to get a CT scan.
Concerning the portion of "How it Began" that deals with, uhh...how it began - the reason I remember the dates so well is because that Friday (May 22nd) was field trip day. Our academic team was going to the holocaust museum in Dallas. Listen, a field trip for a teacher is quiet dreadful; I wasn't upset that I didn't get to see the holocaust museum, but I was upset that I wouldn't be there to help the other teachers - I got up that morning determined to go, but I started ralphing in the shower. I went to see my family doctor, threw up some more (I must've eaten a lot the night before). He asked me what I thought might be the problem; I ominously replied, "near as I can figure, I've had a stroke." I laughed. He didn't. The pain shot he gave me lasted about an hour. My headache persisted into the next day, so I went to the ER to get a CT scan.
After waiting in the ER for 57 hours (give or take), I got
scanned. Next thing I know, I'm on a helicopter to a hospital in Dallas.
I was told I had had a hemorrhage due to something called a
cavernoma in my brainstem. For a split second I thought, "brainstem? That
part don't do nothin but hold your brain in your head - I'll be outta here in
no time with nary a scratch."
Listen, the brainstem is important for many reasons
1. It holds your brain in your head.
2. It controls autonomic functions, like breathing and heart
rate (I'm no physician, but I understand that breathing and having a heart rate
are good for staying alive)
3. The brainstem is a nexus (this blog brought to you by
Android: "We are the brainstem of mobile devices.") of the cerebral
cortex, the cerebellum, and the spinal cord. Basically, it's the crossroads of
the entire nervous system. In my case, my hemorrhage was in the Pons, seen here -
Pons is Latin (I think) for "bridge" (side note -
I fabricate word meanings/origins a lot, but this one is legit) because of its
position between the cerebellum and cerebral cortex. Think of it like this -
let's pretend that the cerebral cortex is a donut factory, and the cerebellum
is the dough supplier. The bridge on the road between the two got damaged from
a flood, so now the dough supplier has to find a new way to get there, it takes
longer, and the dough isn't as fresh. Also, the donut factory will have to find
new roads to deliver donuts to the rest of the body - the donuts get old and
stale.
I need to stop talking about donuts, so...
ITEM!
This past Saturday (the 23rd) was the annual Angioma Alliance 5k Fun Run. I was
poised to run all 5,000 miles, but it was rained out :(. Oh well, next year
I'll run 10,000 miles to make up for it (I would walk (run) 5,000 miles and I
would walk (run) 5,000 more, just to be the man to walk (run) 10,000 miles...).
It's always nice to be around "my people." Often, I am reluctant to
be social in large gatherings, thinking my voice and mannerisms are off-putting
(mmm...pudding), calling for me to explain my situation. At gatherings like
this, no explanation is needed. I also got to pick the brains (pun intended) of
some fellow "head-cases" as I call them. Good times, submitted
for the approval of the Angioma Alliance, I propose that the 2013 Fun Run be
belatedly renamed the "Fun Rain."
Speaking of rain, when water gets too cold it turns into
ice. Ice is helpful for relieving headaches when packed in bags ("ice pack"). With that...
...TBI is...Two Bound Ice Packs -
This picture was taken after my baclofen pump
"installation." You see, the pump is connected to a catheter leading
to my spinal cord. The needle in my spinal cord caused a leak (cerebro-spinal
fluid). Any change in pressure in your noodle results in headaches. I didn't
want to hold an "ice pack" on my head all day ("ain't no one got
time for that"), so I tethered them to my head.
I know I said that I'd write about the first two days worth
of entries, but this entry is already entirely too long (THAT'S WHAT SHE
SAID!). Therefore, I'll continue reminiscing about my injourney
(reminjourneying?) next time.
Speaking of next time, I've found that despite the meaning
of "Mon" (see HERE for details), posting to my blog on Monday is not fitting into my schedule.
Henceforth, I will post new entries on Tuesdays - which is Nigerian for
"kinda like Monday". With that, I'm finally done! see you in eight
days!
FIN
@JarrettLWilson
