A lot has happened...

A lot has happened since my last post. Yes I was home for two days after bringing Julia home. No I did not stay at home long. I got home Thursday the 17th with Julia and Adam. Early Saturday morning I woke up with a pulsing headache. Adam got me up and made me eat and drink some water. My blood pressure was unusually high but after getting up and around it went back down and I was able to go back to sleep. Saturday, during the day I was napping. I was woken up again by another headache. This time it was worse. My neck was also tightening with every heartbeat. I took my blood pressure again and it was sky high. I called my doctor and Adam, both of which suggested I go to the emergency room.

So there I went and Adam met me there. I underwent a couple tests; a CT scan of my head and a spinal tap. Nothing unusual came up with the tests so I was admitted to the maternity ward with a diagnosis of late onset pre-eclampsia. Normally this would occur in a pregnant woman and the cure is delivery but sometimes it comes on late. So they put me on a magnesium drip for 24 hours to prevent any seizures and to lower my blood pressure. I didn't feel well at all on the magnesium and I was worried the entire time about what would happen when they took me off of it. In the meantime, Julia came to visit with my mom which lifted my spirits considerably! That night, Monday morning actually at 12am, they took me off the magnesium drip and I went to sleep.

I'm not sure what time it was when I woke up but sometime in the early morning, before 6am, I woke up from an alarm going off on those things they put on your legs to keep circulation going. They had come unhooked or something so a little beeping alarm was going off. I went to reach for my glasses with my right hand but for some reason I couldn't grab them. I just thought I was sleepy so I got them with my left hand and put them on. Then I went to call the nurse to come turn off the alarm. I found I could not talk normally at all. I started screaming for Adam out of fear and he came right to my bedside. The nurse also came in and so did a few other people. I had no idea what had happened but they quickly got my stuff together to move me to ICU.

That morning is a little hazy but first they wheeled me to get another head scan. They found that I had a brain hemorrhage that had caused a mild stroke. Wow! I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe I was actually okay really. I was taken to ICU where I stayed for four days. During that time I had another CT scan where they looked at all the veins in my head, and an MRI to look at the hemorrhage. They never really found what caused the hemorrhage and the stroke.

Anyway, I was moved back to maternity so I could see Julia. It was so great to hold her again. I missed her so much. My parents were so wonderful to take care of her while Adam was at the hospital taking care of me. My dad flew down that Monday afternoon after I had been moved to ICU. He stayed at the apartment with my mom and Julia. The original plan was to get released from the hospital on Saturday, June 26th. But I got more bad news when an infection developed in my arm at an old IV site. It was pretty nasty looking and they told me I had to stay in the hospital to receive some heavy duty antibiotics for four more days. It was a little devastating but I got through it okay. The doctor of infectious disease told me I would have to have a PICC line installed to keep receiving the antibiotics at home for a couple more weeks. When I finally got to come back home, Tuesday the 29th, a home nurse came over and taught Adam how to give me the antibiotics and take care of the PICC line. The whole hospital experience was crazy and scary.

So now I'm home, with a PICC line in my arm and a stupid bag that I have to carry around with it but it's so nice to be out of the hospital. I go back on Monday to see the infectious disease doctor and hopefully get this thing removed and have all my body back! As far as my speech and hand go, I feel like I'm still having a little trouble talking but everyone else seems to think it's improved back to normal. My hand is a little weak. I bought a hand strengthener at REI yesterday to work on my finger strength and of course I've been working on the piano. So I'll keep working on recovering from the stroke and see where it takes me by the end of the summer!

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers. I feel so supported and loved and appreciate everyone who has contacted me at the hospital and here at home to show your support.

THANK YOU!

Lauren~