Back to Work

So today was the first day of my 4 week progressive return to work. Only four hours in the office, but that means I'm actually out and busy for 7 hours. Yup....Hour and a half to get to work one way. Needless to say I was tired on returning home but a bit of a rest on the couch and I'm ok...thankfully I have tomorrow to recover before trying again on Fri. Slowly and surely I will get stronger. I'm very grateful for the sickness policy at work right now!! As I know if I were to return to full time hours right now I would not be successful. Thanks work!

It was good to be back at work and really nice to see everyone again. They have all been REALLY supportive of me while I have been unwell and it is good to be on my way back!

We have an appointment with the Neuro Dr in the foreseeable future which will hopefully give us a few more answers to our million and one questions. Anyways that is the update for now.

Dr. House comes to life

So a few of you have contacted me regarding a small comment I tried to sneak in the last post....my hospital visit before Christmas. Well I've been in hospital again and have unwittingly became the patient of a Dr. House episode. They are having a hard time figuring out what is wrong with me....I know many of you could offer loads of ideas on the front :) however this was for real. All my tests kept coming back as normal.

However I was and am in a fair bit of pain. Chronic headache, with leftsided tingling in my face. Bloods.....normal, ct head nothing obvious, head MRI results pending. For a while we had a bit of hope that they had figured it out as initial results from a lumbar puncture showed "organisms" but further testing on the sample showed that those bugs were merely a contaminant in the sample. So after a week in hospital I am back home. My head still hurts, the tingling is still there. The Neuro Dr I saw (and am now under) thinks it may be "atypical nerve pain" and has placed me on a Neuro pain drug to see it that will help at all. But that will take 4-6 weeks for it to reach the right level in my head.

So that is the story. I'm sure many of you will be concerned at this news. Mark and I appreciate your thoughts, prayers and well wishes. But we don't know more than what I have shared now with you all. I have a follow up apt in 4-6 weeks with my Neuro Dr.

Now all of that to say the following, home has never been so good. After eating hospital food for a week meals at home are beyond delicious! Being a patient in a hospital when you don't have a diagnosis is not fun. No one really knows what to do with you or how to assess you. Which can be frustrating. Family and close friends are beyond valuable as they give you the strength to keep fighting for the next test, the right Dr, the right treatment. I had a few great nurses (mainly the night ones) who listened and cared! The value of a good nurse is what patients say...there are no words for how much it means. To have a hand held, to take a few minutes to listen...invaluable to your patient who is on isolation, in pain, scared and who has no diagnosis! Thank you to all of you who do that to us your patients. We are grateful, calmer, and respect you for all you do.

I am ok...sort of. I tire very easily and am slowly getting the strength and stamina back to hold my head upright; side effect of suffering for day and a half with CSF leak before Neuro was able to come see me and we figured out I then had two sources of pain instead of one. I am off work for the next while and waiting and hoping that new drug I started does the trick. So keep us close in your hearts and minds.

Surgery

Surgery! What a huge effort. Thankfully I have the best Mom ever and she flew out to Toronto to take care of me. If it wouldn't have been for her I would have ended up living in the bathroom in the tub and would have lost ALOT of weight from lack of food. Thanks mom.
The surgery itself went really well and post surgery I felt fine thanks to The Dr. Shooting my ankle full of novocaine. So I walked around on it and had an awfully bloody mess In the pictures above. All the above were taken with in the first week following surgery.
It was a long six weeks sentenced to life on the couch. I read a lot of books (some of which I have reviewed on my other page), watched TV and did six yes six Shakiko embroideries. I believe my book tally got up to 12 in six weeks. hehe!! Thankfully Tom and Della (the neighbor's) took pity on me and shuttled me to the grocery store when I ran out of milk and other things that I needed. And I had friends that took pity on me and took me out in public and put up with my SUPER slow walking and the complaining about the pain. Thanks to Mark for hours on the phone, For Mom for calling me twice a day just so I had some one to talk to. You all made those hard six of a lot of naps, books, and needles pass rather successfully.
The ankle is coming along rather nicely. I had a moment yesterday that was pretty amazing. I went out in public for dinner without my brace and with matching shoes. It was very exciting. I'm allowed to swim and bike without my brace. But only bike on a stationary bike. But that is better than nothing. I go back for a hopefully final visit with my surgeon and hopefully he will clear me.

Unoffical word

Well I just got back from the Doc's he says not to bother wearing the cast for now...but to hang on to it as he is pretty sure that the only way to fix my ankle is (drum roll please) SURGERY! Fun fun fun! I still haven't manged to get my appointment with the srugeon moved up yet, fingers crossed though! I think that I will try and talk to his recsptionist again.

So yesterday I went up to the gym that I used to work at and had a massage...SO nice it has been way too long! I'm going to go again next week as I'm trying to get my back that I tweaked a bit back to its normal self. ARGH one more thing. But as I was up a fariveiw I went and picked up pounds for my trip to England!! So I starting to pack my wallet, passport and money and the free walking guide map! I'm SO excited!

You know, I have been without a TV since May when I returned to Toronto. And you know what it is kind of sad how out of it I feel with out a show that I watched to talk about. I have no clue what is on TV and what happened in the newest show. But I don't feel that my life is any less valuable...if anything I am writting letters (yes you know those things that used to come to your mail box), reading, I have rediscovered radio, and am learning to clean my house on a regular basis which is pretty exciting. It is crazy how much time that box sucks out of our lives!