Mystery Solved!

The mystery is solved...sort of. I went to Dr. Warner yesterday. She is my new favorite doctor. I finally have a doctor that knows what is wrong and doesn't hesitate when she is telling me. I was at her office yesterday for almost 5 hours, so I am pretty sure that she has figured it out. I do have to have some more blood work done to rule out some things, but besides that I am feeling pretty good about the diagnosis. Here is the run down....
I had to wait in the waiting room for over 2 hours before I got in the office due to an emergency that the doctor had to deal with. Then just when I was about to take a bite of my lunch, they called me back - perfect timing. The first doctor I saw gave me the normal eye exam that you would get at any eye doctor. He changed my prescription so that I will be able to see better I hope. I did get to order new, and might I add, very cute glasses. So that went well. The next doctor was Dr. Yang. Dr. Yang lacked in personality. He did not think that I was one bit funny, which makes the situation a little rough. I like to be funny when they are poking and prodding at me. It is my coping mechanism. He literally checked every part of my body. I can now tell you that nothing is wrong except for my eye. He checked reflexes that I didn't know that I had!!! Dr. Yang and his glowing personality took a full history of my medical issues, then I finally got to meet Dr. Warner. She is rad. She walks in introduces herself and tells Dr. Personality to explain everything to her. She looks at him and says "Go Yang" I felt a little bit like I was on Greys Anatomy for a minute - that was fun. He went through everything with her, then she examined me, saying nothing the whole time. She finally started talking and thank goodness she had a personality. She was so smart and knew exactly what she wanted to say. She said it with confidence. No maybe this or maybe that or brain tumor or anything. She told me that the MRSA had done some deep nerve damage. Now I know that I am no Neuro Opthamologist, but I am pretty sure that I have been saying that it was the MRSA from day one. HHHMMMM!!! She said that it is not palsy. It is called a tick. My nerve that closes my eye is overactive (the 7th nerve) My nerve that opens my eye is under active (the 3rd nerve). I blink every second. The rest of you blink every four to five seconds. That part freaks me out a bit, because now I am very aware of it and I am trying not to blink so much. I have always been terrible at starring contest, it is all starting to make sense to me now. So the problem is that with the nerve damage - every time that I get sick or stressed my tick will come back. She said that Dr. Daynes did the right thing by doing the botox, but that I can't have botox every time this comes back, because that much botox will start to affect my eyesight. I have to learn to control it myself. I have facial nerve exercises to do everyday. Now if anyone would like a good laugh. They should come over and watch me pull stupid faces at myself in the mirror. I look ridiculous, but I will do anything to get this better. If I can't control it, then I have to go to a physical therapist that specializes in 3rd nerve therapy. I wonder what kind of person wakes up one morning and decides that they are going to be a 3rd nerve physical therapist? Here is the best part....she told me that I have to get a full nights sleep every night for a week. HAHAHAHA!!! Okay, so that didn't happen last night. We will try and start my full weeks sleep tonight. Pretty sure it isn't going to happen, but she says that if I can give it enough rest that my eye will open. Anyway, I think that it is pretty good news considering the other diagnosis that I have been worried about. I am a little frustrated to know that I will have to deal with this forever, but I am determined to take control of it. I am supposed to get good sleep and get rid of my STRESS. When my Dad heard that one his only remark was "She has to get rid of Cody"!!! I thought that was quite funny, unfortunately I love him too much. I don't want to get rid of him. I think I would just like to get rid of his DOG and his PICKUP (and the payment that comes with it). Things are going to change in the Garrard household. It might get ugly for a little while, but I don't like looking the way I do, so I am going to take control of my health somehow. As for the white matter - this is going to sound funny, but after all that we went through yesterday, we got out in the car and Mom and I were discussing it all, and we both forgot to ask about it. I know that sounds dumb of us, that was the major concern, but it was a long, long day. Dr. Warner didn't mention it, so I am thinking that it is not anything to be alarmed about right now. I go back in 6 weeks, so I will remember to ask about it then. For now, I am going to SLEEP and RELAX and NOT STRESS and do my EXERCISES..............okay, well I am going to do my exercises anyway!!! I will work on the others. I will learn to control my tick. I am starting to think that I should just be admitted to a mental institution - who gets ticks - seriously......oh, me. So there you go. The mystery is solved!

The Revenge of the Palsy.

So here goes, my attempt at explaining the latest medical news. My very least favorite subject. Last week I got very, very sick during my kids tumbling recital. By the end of it I didn't think that I was going to be able to get my body home. I woke up the next morning, sick (my whole body hurt terribly) and my eye had totally closed. I have been having some weakness in it for about a month now if I was tired or stressed, but when I tried hard enough I could get it to look normal. Not last Wed. morning. The palsy had totally returned and I knew it the second that I woke up. The palsy feeling was back in full force and I was pissed off to tell you the truth. The first word out of my mouth was one that I will not be posting on the blog. I was going to call Dr. Daynes, but I didn't know what to tell him was wrong with me sick wise. So I called Dr. Blauer. He took one look and got so confused and concerned. He conferred with Dr. Daynes (whom I love, by the way) and they decided to go for a GIGANTIC horse pill 3 x a day for a viral infection which brings on bells palsy (I have bells this time, they think. Still a lot of 3rd nerve too though), and the lovely steroid that I am so good at taking (remember the extra long October post). So I have spent the last week on my favorite meds. I waited til I was off the steroids to write due to the length of my last drugged posting. Wasn't that nice of me. So then the docs decided to have an MRI. Apparently, only 7% of people get recurrent palsy. I like being in the minority you know. Recurrent Palsy is most commonly caused by a brain tumor. Well, there you go. That just made my day. I have always admitted to not being totally mentally okay, but I never really thought that I was THAT bad off. So I went in for my MRI on Friday. The tech, of course, wouldn't tell us anything. You gotta hand it to the poor guy, he put up with Cody trying to pry info out of him for an hour and didn't break. He was awesome. My last scan experience didn't go so well (remember the pants peeing incident), so I was expecting the worst. When he said that I had to have the dye put in me again, I about died, but he quickly informed me that it was a different dye and that I wouldn't feel like I had to pee (why didn't the first guy warn me about the peeing issue???) I would just taste metal. Metal doesn't taste all that bad. The only major problem here was the claustrophobia. I don't remember the tube being that small and then they put what he called a football helmet on me and I was okay, then he informed me that I have a small head and that he needed to put padding in there. He jammed these pillow things in the football helmet thing and all I can say is that it is good that I have been training for this for a few years now. My taichi breathing was a lifesaver. I just breathed through it. (I must be one good taichi teacher. - J.K.) I almost freaked out once when they were testing for a stroke, but he informed me that he could have me out of that tube in 4 seconds. Good to know that he has it down.

So then the wait started. We were told that we would hear about the results by Friday night or Monday morning. That is a long time to wait to hear about a brain tumor in your head (just in case you were wondering). I didn't receive a call, so I called them on Monday. Guess what... there was a little problem, they couldn't find the results. Only I get to lose my brain tumor results!!! So, I waited and waited. No call. So I called them again on Tuesday. By this time I had all my wigs picked out. Jessie and I decided that we would get me wigs in every color and style. Think about how fun it would be for me to get to change my hairstyle and color everyday!!! Finally, Tuesday evening, I get a call from Dr. Blauer's nurse. She was calling to tell me that they had finally gotten the results and that I would need to come in on Wed. morning to hear what they were. I was not going to let her off the phone until I knew about the tumor. She finally informed me that it was not a tumor, but that I needed to get in there tomorrow. Well, there goes my wigs...

Mom and I went in on Wed. morning ready for the worst. Dr. Blauer says, "Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Okay, let me see, take your pick. I said, I guess the good news. He said that it was not a tumor. Good. Then he said that there was white matter on my brain. Bad. My brain looks like an old person's brain that has had mini strokes. Well, I bet that is cute. He didn't give us much more info except that I will be going to a neurologist. Guess when, my appointment is 5 weeks away.

So, I woke up yesterday thinking...My eye is not working, I am sooooo cute, I have stuff on my brain, and I don't get to figure it out until June 30.....NOT! I am getting so assertive these days. I called the awesome and fabulous Dr. Daynes (have I mentioned how much I like him?). He called me back last night and told me to get a copy of the MRI report faxed to him and Mom took some darling pics of me to send to him. He took over immediately and said that he will get it handled. Today, after some research, he called and has gotten me into the Moran Eye Center to see a neuro-opthamologist. We are passing by the neurologist and going straight to the top. Yay. I get in next week, not in 5 weeks!!! Cody is a little concerned about Dr. Daynes and I's relationship. I informed him that it is a good thing that my doc likes me so much. It got me to the top, and besides, I am a likable person ya know!!! I think that he has forgotten that these past few days. I haven't been very fun to live with. Sorry Cody. So there it is. My story. I am amazed at how rumors can spread. I think that everyone thinks that I am dying. Not dying, just a little screwed up in the head, and lets be honest, we all already knew that - right!!! If you see me, just look at the good eye and act like all is well. It would be much appreciated.

Cottonwood Canyon.

We had a great Mother's Day weekend. Sarah and Don came up and we went to Cottonwood. It was very fun and relaxing for me. I love being in the mountains with my fam and just hanging out. Sarah brought her trailer so we were able to have somewhere to go in and eat. It was quite nice having the trailer up there to use (can we say bathroom!!!!). Thanks everyone for joining in on my last minute plans. It was very spontaneous for all of you un-spontaneous people! ;) Good times!

Emma wanted to have a serious look in this pic. She had to try really hard to pull that pose. The grin quickly followed.

Lunch.

I love pepper.

Not quite this much however. This is what happens when you are in a hurry and open the wrong side of the jar. I scraped the top of it off, mixed the rest in and gave it a try.
Can you say heartburn in the middle of the day. I love pepper. Just not this much.

Football.

Tuesday was wear your favorite sport attire to school day. Tate chose football. I thought that it was great to see him in Cody's jersey.

I think that he has a little ways to go to fit into it properly. I look at Tate now and can't imagine that he will someday be as big as Cody. I just want him to stay my little boy forever. I know that by the time he fits into this jersey his Mom won't be as "neat" as she is now. I bet you didn't know that I was neat did ya! Just ask Tate he'll tell you. (Hurry and ask him before he fits into the jersey.)

While we are talking about Taten...the boy has no teeth left in his mouth. See that last top one sticking out there all by itself. He brought that home in a baggy this same day. He has single-handedly broke the toothfairy this year. She is going to need to take out a loan to keep up with Tate's teeth. How many do they lose anyway???

It is impossible to have the camera in hand and not take a picture of Emma. She won't let me get away with it. She was singing a little "Cha - Cha- CHA,CHA,CHA" Notice Tate thought that it was dance worthy too!

*Ellie is not in any of these pics because it is before school and I am sure that she was still getting ready. She is not an early riser or a fast mover, school mornings are rough on her.

New Blog!

I have started a new blog. It will have updates on when I will be placing makeup and clothing orders. Take a look at the new clothing line that I am selling. I am quite excited about it. My blog is www.shabbychi.blogspot.com