Good news and not so great news.

Thursday I went to the hospital. I'd taken an embarassing ugly fall in the middle of the store the day before. That was enough for me (and my doctor) to want to go ahead and do the MRI ASAP. So, the MRI came back clean!! Only saw the bulging disks up near my neck and the fingers in my brain stem. The doctor didn't see "significant changes" in those fingers, so I'm A-Okay. However, they labeled me as now having migrains.

Never even thought about migrains, but I was given some new meds. One of them is to help me sleep at night and it's definately done it's job. The last 2 nights I have slept better than I have in WEEKS. The rest has taken care of that confused/wobbly feeling. The other one is a headache medicine. (So we're just taking care of the symtoms, which made me pretty angry at first. I want to FIX whatever is wrong, not mask it.) The headache medicine is a little strong, so yesterday I only took it when I got home (at 5 in the afternoon) - meaning I had a massive headache all day.

Like the crazy person that I am, I've decided to still tackle school. I was in class for 8 hours yesterday, and it was hard but I did it. So yay for me. Today I feel like a "fighter" and I feel a surge of strength that I didn't have a couple weeks ago. So hooray for not letting sickness over-power me, rob me, or cheat me out of anything. I'm gonna kick it's tail and then laugh at it. Just cause I can. (-:

I've seen better days...

I'll whine here since I don't want to freak my family out, but... I feel AWFUL. My head hurts worse than words can describe. And I'm wondering if I've made a mistake by signing up for school this summer. My classes start tomorrow and I honestly don't know how on earth I'm going to sit in class for 6 hours, much less be able to think clearly.

Yesterday I tried making it all through the day without pain medication to get myself ready for classes, and I haven't taken anything yet, but I'm going to have too. This stinks. Wwwaaaa! LOL

Neurology appointment still looms in a couple weeks. A couple weeks?!?!? Will I make it a couple weeks? And then, what if there is nothing "wrong"? How will we "fix" this then??? Maybe I sound worried, but I really think that I'm just more frusterated.

Is "IT" back?

I guess it's been about 2 weeks now that I've been experiencing symptoms. The most annoying symptom has been extreme fatigue. I haven't been sleeping well at night - most nights are either filled with nightmares or interrupted by constant waking up. I wake up feeling exhausted and I nap once or twice a day and STILL feel tired.

Another pretty annoying symptom has been trouble urinating. That may be TMI (too much information), but it's true. While I feel the urge to void, it has been very difficult to actually go. Then once I start, I can only seem to get little spurts out and never really empty my bladder. Very aggravating.

The headaches have also started back. It's hard to describe, but my entire head hurts. Anywhere you see hair on my head is pretty much where my headache is. It feels almost like a lot of pressure... Almost as if my head is too heavy for my neck to hold up.

On top of all that, I feel a little foggy. You know that feeling you get when you take Nyquil right before you fall asleep? That confused drugged feeling? That's how I feel - constantly. Strange, right?

Other things that I've noticed is a lack of balance. I've stumbled, fallen, or walked into walls quite a few times recently. Short-term memory loss (although I've battled this for years now since the surgery). Shortness of breath, or panting, after very minimal exertion (like showering). Blurred vision. In fact, I've noticed this for a couple months now and even went to have my eyes checked because of it. But eye sight was fine.

Hummm... I think that's all. Surely that's enough! LOL

The little bit of research that I've done is enough to try to scare me to death. When I had the surgery to remove the bulk of the tumor in my cerebellum, the surgeon informed me that there were "fingers" left in my brain stem. Looking at websites and different studies on brain stem defects and I've been experiencing majority of the symptoms listed. Of course I'm sure any physician would shudder at any patient trying to self-diagnose, and I really am trying my hardest not to worry - just curious.

Really, I don't feel as worried as I feel really aggravated. This is REALLY inconvenient. I start back to school in 2 days!!! And it's nursing school at that! It's 10 hour clinical days and 6 hour lecture times. I do not have time to be feeling bad.

As a bonus, my neurologist moved out of state, so I have an appointment to see a new neurologist June 8th. Fun. (-: