Mommies Aren't Allowed to Get Sick

I have been slacking a bit here lately.  I spent the better part of last week either in a hospital or at dr's appointments.  This is not normal for me.

I know that I have issues, I need to lose weight, I need to eat healthier, I need to start exercising.  But other then those things, I am a pretty healthy person.

Apparently my life has become quite stressful, either that, or I have not been able to cope as much with the stress as I used to.  Not sure really.

I was at work, and it was a great night.  Quiet, no problems, everything was running smoothly, so no stressors...then all of a sudden, my right arm started to go numb and tingly.  I didn't think too much of it, because it wasn't affecting my ability to work. 

That was, until my face started to tingle, go numb and become itchy.  Only on the right side.  Then I started to become concerned.  My right face, my right arm...it was all kind of weird.

By the time I got home that night, my right leg was starting to bother me too, going numb - it almost felt like it was hollow and throbbing.  It was, again, weird.

So, I made an appointmet to see my doctor, which I never really do.  I was thinking through my symptoms and realized that I had been having severe headaches for 2 weeks and the Advil I was taking wasn't working to relieve the pressure.  Advil has always worked for me, so again, this was weird. 

But, the headache on its own didn't concern me, and I was still able to function through it...

When all this numbness and tingling started, I realized that they could all be connected.

The dr checked my blood pressure, and it was 162/108 (or thereabouts) and she asked me how my symptoms were.  I said they were still present, not really worse, but there.  She sent me straight to the hospital.

I waited 6 hours before I got to see the ER doctor, and when she came in, she did bloodwork and asked me a bunch of questions, my blood pressure at that time was 174/115.  She suggested that I had a neurological migraine, then had me doing some other tests.  Squeezing her fingers with both hands, holding my hands, palm up, and closing my eyes etc...When I did that last test, my right hand was falling down. I just didn't have the same strength in it.

The doctor told me to come back the next day for a CT Scan (she hadn't suggested this until she saw the weakness still in my arm).

So I headed back for my CT Scan.  Those results were normal...I have a brain and it works fine (just to prove that to everyone;-)  But this doctor told me that neurological migraines come on differently then my symptoms were.  They usually start with the numbness and tingling (stroke like symptoms), down one side of the body.  Then those symptoms go away and the headache begins.  Because I had been having headaches for 2 weeks prior, his guess was that I had a mini stroke.

This is the first time I have been public about this.  It is something that I really needed to process first.  I am young and I didn't think this kind of thing should be happening to me. 

It was a wakeup call for sure. 

I went back to my doctor again, for an Echo test and now I am wearing a loop heart monitor for a week.  Hopefully this will bring some answers to me about why my heart rate/blood pressure keeps changing so dramatically.

I should have listened to my body.  I should have gone in to see the doctor when the headache persisted.

My bloodwork has come back and my B12 levels are extremely low.  I will be starting supplements as soon as I can get back in to the office. 

I was telling the doctors, I am too busy to have something like this happen to me.  My life is too full, too busy, I have too much to do to be sitting in appointments for myself all week.

And that is where a lot of these problems creep up. 

This is what finally opened my eyes about what I need to change.  I need to slow down my life.  I need to say no more often.  I also think that at my job I am going to stay a relief worker, instead of trying to get a contract.  My life right now is too full to take on the extra work that is associated with that.

We are going to be setting up a family calendar, and if events aren't written on by the Sunday night of the next week, then the kids (or us) will not be attending them.  I am hoping that this is a way to help organize our lives so we are not as stressed. 

This wake up call has also prompted me to make some more changes in my life, so my eating habits need to change, and I am going to start walking.  These are big changes for me, and I tend to not be a consistent person, so this is going to take a lot of effort...and accountability.

Do you take care of yourself?  What organizational tools do you use at home or to keep your schedules organized?  Do you have special ways to destress?

I think it is so important for us, as moms, to make sure we pay attention to our bodies and the signs that come up.  I want to be around for my kids and my family and my future grandkids (not any time soon though;-). 

Who is with me?  Who is going to jump on the wagon here and start making small changes to better your lives?