The whole story pt.2

When I heard the words ” you had a stroke” I began to melt to the ground in tears. I asked the doctor in desperation, “what do I do next?” She told me to go to the ER and see a neurologist. Those words scared the shiz out of me. I have never even broken a bone.. Now I’m going to the ER!?

A turn for the worst

I headed for the best hospital in Carrollton, and my mom dropped me off at the front door. Keep in mind that I could STILL WALK at this point. I walked in and checked myself into the ER. For someone that had a “stroke” I was in really good shape.

It wasn’t a stroke

Surprise! Not a stroke, said the neurologist on duty. She calmly told me that I needed to transfer hospitals because there’s an unidentifiable mass in my brain. Oy vey, my fear grew larger.

UT Southwestern..

Was the only neuro hospital that had a bed for me. I agreed to transfer in the morning. My mom, aunt and Robert stayed with me at the first hospital for three days. On March 12, I was transferred to Zale Lipshy, the neuro hospital at UTSW. I went through the whole process of checking in again. This time they gave me a lot of neuro testing.

Things got worse…

The next day, I was given a feeding tube in my nose because I was aspirating when I tried to eat. Aspiration when eating means that the food goes into the airways (lungs) instead of the esophagus (stomach). It’s very dangerous but this was the first day of many that I couldn’t eat. All nutrition was coming in through my nose. I also started discussing options with the neurologist and neurosurgeon. They were unable to identify the mass. Most of the possibilities were based on theory. I was told there was no diagnosis unless I had a biopsy.