Mimi Debbie and Baby Isaiah
I had appointment after appointment for a few weeks and was blessed to have someone take me to my appointments and help with Isaiah, while someone else stayed at home with Andrew. Again, thank you Grandma Shaffer, Aunt Katie, Aunt Hol, Betsy, Laura, small group and everyone who prayed, sent cards and meals, drove, babysat, called... we couldn't have done it without you. Holly took me to see the vestibular specialist who told me it was likely a migrane and it could last for 50 years! He prescribed some medication and told me it was safe for breastfeeding, but to take it at night and it would make me drowsy. As you can guess, I didn't even pick up the scrip - if you have ever been a breastfeeding mom you know that being drowsy at night can be very dangerous (especially if you just snuggle next to baby in bed for feedings, like I do). So not much help from the "second" opinion... Fortunately my mom has a close friend whose husband was head of neurology at Methodist for many years, we contacted her and they gave us some names of the best neurologist in Indy - I got an appointment within a few weeks with that contact!
The next day we celebrated Andrew's birthday with friends and Aunt Holly called to tell me that she was in labor (34 1/2 weeks gestation). Baby Evelyn (Evie) Grace came quickly with little warning and was taken to the NICU at Methodist. Mom and Dad drove through the night to be here as soon as possible and made it just in time to celebrate Andrew's Birthday (see Andrew's Birthday post for pictures) after visiting Holly in the hospital.
Here is Isaiah (9 weeks) & Evie (2 weeks)
The next week I had an appointment with the Methodist neurologist for a "third" opinion. My mom had stayed the night in the NICU with Holly, but was able to walk down the hall and be with me for this appointment :). After only a few minutes of speaking with him, I knew I liked him and he was going to help. He explained how my symptoms didn't fit with a migrane or vestibular disease and told me it was likely a vascular event in the cerebellum - he actually listened to me, watched me walk (which none of the other doctors did, even though it was my primary complaint) and put it all together and discussed a possible pathophysiology - this is what I was looking for! He told me I likely had a small stroke that caused the damage and we would find out why all these things had happened and to continue my baby Aspirin daily for at least a year - I asked him if I could cancel all of the other follow up appointments and if he would be my neurologist - he smiled and said yes!
We celebrated Aunt Katies Sweet 16 in Holly's hospital room at Methodist :) And yes, I crafted the beautiful cake myself! Katie is a vegetarian and loves cake, which makes this kind of funny!
See August 26 post to see the conclusion of this crazy story
