Monday, May 24, 2010

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. (-:

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