Tests, Picc Line, Grey's Anatomy in Friends With the Benedicts

Today has been very interesting. I woke up at around 6, after sleeping a lot courtesy of Melatonin, yay! I got my morning meds, after hallucinating that my room had grown a hallway that nurse Nick was then disappearing down. It’s so funny how when you first wake up in a new place, things can look a bit wonky to say the least. lol. So then not too long after that, the people came in to put in my picc line. I dunno if I wrote about it, but the steroids destroy my veins and burn really bad, so they wanted to do that so they could just put them in easily and I don’t have to have an IV. Also it will make blood work a breeze, and lots of other stuff. They numbed the area, which was the worst part, draped me right here in my bed, and did the procedure. It was over in about 20 minutes. I felt like I was on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy because there was a student here today who asked my permission to watch them do it. She even looked a whooole lot like April Kepner! Even acted like her! It was very cute to watch. She did a whole bunch of assessments on me and would be like, “OK, that’s done, so OK I just need to do one more now. OK.” And her little fingers would be shaking when she touched me. I tried to put her at ease as much as possible by laughing and reassuring her and saying things were fine, she was doing good. I dunno if it worked, but I really liked her and I think she liked me. She came in to say goodbye before she left and brought me more towels and blankets, so I think so. :) Awww… so cute. She is a whole 20 years old yall. :( LOL.

So, yesterday they did do an MRI which somehow I managed to fall asleep during. No idea. lol. And then later they did the carotid ultrasound. I am kinda worried about that. First of all, the girl doing it was very forthcoming. I know they aren’t supposed to be, but whatever. When I was in the ER still, and they said that they would be doing this test, the doc down there told me and my Mom that they would be looking for plaque in the arteries but “not to worry, because they won’t find any at your age, and a 33 year old shouldn’t have any plaque at all”. So… first thing I asked the girl is what plaque looked like, because she was letting us (me and my cousin who was visiting) watch the screen. I thought maybe she would show me a pic or something. But no, she’s like, “oh here, there’s some”. I was like “I have some??” I didn’t tell her what the doc told me because she then said, “Oh yea, most everyone has a little plaque in them”. ? I haven’t looked this up yet, but I dunno what to believe. She then tells me that the carotid breaks up into two valves, and she says their respective names, and one goes to the face muscles n stuff, and the other one is more important and goes to the brain. She says if there is plaque in the face one, they usually won’t go in there to clean it out or worry about it much. But if there is plaque in the brain one, they tend to worry about it a little more. Well, since I knew then what to look for, and which one was important, when she got to that one, I paid attention. Sure enough, there was plenty of what I am pretty sure was plaque, and she was pausing and then highlighting it and stuff. So, I have no idea what to expect from that test. Further more, when she was done and leaving, I was like, “Did I pass? You can tell me, it’s OK.” And she was like, “Well, it was OK, I mean you don’t see me running out of here to get a doctor do you?” ! First of all, nobody is going to run out of there on a Sunday because of some plaque. Second of all, yea, she would have if one of my arteries had been almost blocked or something, but come on, that don’t sound good to me, I mean the way she paused when I asked her point blank if it went well, like she was thrown off guard. I dunno. And I could be completely wrong and blowing it way out of proportion. We shall see. I know the MRI was done with and without contrast just to be on the safe side, so that’s awesome. I haven’t had an updated one since my brain surgery in Jan. 2013, so I am anxious to see what it says. So, lots of info hopefully to come. I hope all of you are doing good. The doc did say that I might be here for about 5 days! His med student was just in to see me and was asking me how long I thought I should be in here. Well, I dunno. It depends on a lot of things. I mean, how many more steroid injections do they think I need? I am obviously getting better, my arm is almost completely better and my leg/foot is getting there kinda. I’m still stiff but that’s what the Baclofen )MS Skeletal Muscle relaxant) is for, as well as the foot brace and therapy. So I just can’t really answer that. I know my Mom’s Mastectomy is on the 10th, and I would like to be better so I can help her after she gets done helping me, so yea. I just dunno. But, I shall return. Byee!

Steph