Over the last weekend in June I had several bouts of just not feeling good. I was tired, had a mild headache, a little dizzy and just not myself. I didn't feel like playing and would nap with Isaiah while daddy and Andrew were having fun. After a good nap, I was back to normal, so I didn't think much of it. Monday evening I was tired of not feeling good and decided to go on a walk with the family around the pond in our neighborhood - thinking a little fresh air may help. It was a bad idea and by the time I got home I could barely walk in a straight line and was dry heaving. We all went straight to bed, but even when I was up at 3am I was still dizzy and not feeling normal.
When I woke up the next morning I was feeling great, but went to visit my family doctor and discussed everything that had happened since Isaiah's birth and the strange symptoms I was having over the weekend. He conducted a quick neuro exam and sent me for some bloodwork, which all came back within normal limits.
The next night Isaiah slept for almost 7 hours straight, the longest strech since he was born. I was excited as I opened my eyes the next morning, thinking I would feel amazing after a good nights rest, unfortunately as I moved to get out of bed I knew that something was terribly wrong. I couldn't even get out of bed and it was making me nauseous to look at Isaiah - NOT NORMAL! Thankfully, David had not gone to work and I told him we needed to go to the hospital. Grandma Shaffer came with us to help with Isaiah and Aunt Holly and Eliza came to play with Andrew. We decided to go back to the ER (I could barely have a converstaion, I was feeling so miserable and needed help getting to the car) instead of calling the neurologist - thinking we could get a MRI faster this route...
At the ER I saw a doctor within 30 minutes. I explained what had happened and told him I needed an MRI. He offered me some drugs to help the nausea and dizzyness, some of which I declined because they were not safe for breastfeeding and left the room, busy with other patients. We waited for 8 hours... the medications did nothing, I couldn't hold my head up or even look around the room, had horizontal nystagmus in both eyes, David had to help me hold Isaiah so I could nurse him, I was extremely nauseous and vomited all over the floor after eating half of a strawberry. Finally the neurologist strolled in around 4pm (the same Dr. I had seen a few weeks earlier), took one look at me and said, "you need a MRI" - hmmm I thought to myself, actually I think the words come out "thanks Doc, that's what I asked for 8 hours ago!" By now I could tell that whatever had happened was subsiding, but still couldn't walk without falling. He told me I needed to be admitted to get an MRI and that I probably couldn't keep Isaiah with me.
I told him I wasn't staying without the baby and they found me a room on the Women's floor where I could have him with me (as long as I had someone with me at all times to help with the baby), so thanks to wonderful family and friends (Grandma Shaffer and Miller, Holly, Lindsay, Janese...) I was able to keep Isaiah with me for the next 3 days. My mom was on a plane and in Indy by the next morning, she had just gotten home a few weeks earlier... it is always nice to have your mom when something is wrong - so thanks Mom for coming and helping when I was in the hospital. Over the next few days I had about every test possible done (MRI with contrast, Echocardiogram, continuous EKG, Brain stimulation test, lots of bloodwork) and they found that I was perfectly healthy! Good news, yes, but I still couldn't walk without falling and no one seemed to know why! Physical therapy evaluated me and I was sent home with a walker. The neurologist told me that I had vestibluar disease of unknown origin - idiopathic vestibular disease, which means they have no clue what caused my symptoms. Again he felt confident that it probably wouldn't happen again...
See the July 17 post to find out what happened next.
