Health Update

I know many of you have heard bits and pieces over the last few days, but I thought I'd give you the full-ish story so you can be filled in.

Wednesday morn Ell was out doing missions stuff and I was home with the kids.  About 10:45 I started feeling really strange and called Elliott to ask him to come home.  I was having a great deal of trouble speaking and all I could say was, "home...now...something...wrong...now."  Ell called our friends Sue and Jarvis to rush over to our house immediately, as they were closer to home than he was.  When they arrived in a few minutes and Sue took me to her car to get to the hospital just as Ell arrived home in the cab.  

By the time we got to the nearest clinic all I could say was, "no" and "now".  When asked questions I always came up blank - my birthday, the month, where I lived - all met with blank stares. I was able to understand a lot of what was going on, but only in English.  I couldn't read or write either, in any language.  I was trying to communicate through a few signs, but I was so confused even that was hard to understand.  I could remember my name, but not Elliott's, the kids', or anything else.  I would often know roughly what I wanted to say, but could not get any words to come out.  Sue told me her name several times, but each time I forgot.  Soon the clinic suggested I'd had a stroke or a brain tumor (luckily I was unaware of this).  Elliott made the decision to transfer me to a more upscale hospital since we were apparently talking about something pretty serious.

By the time we made it over 30 min away to the other clinic I was screaming in pain for the exploding headache (way worse than childbirth).  I was also very weak and could hardly walk by myself.  After a few hours in the ER, MRIs, multiple blood tests, and a lot of pain meds they said the tests were clear, meaning no tumor/stroke.  Their next guess was viral encephalitis, a virus that causes swelling on the brain, which leads to all my symptoms.  By this time, about 5 hours later, I was given a room to be comfortable while we did some more tests. This included three more blood tests, three urine tests, and a chest x-ray, all of which were clear (and a not-so-happy nurse trying to bathe me).  The current theory was still encephalitis, since the virus travels throughout the body and may not always show up even though it's present.  

But by the next morning I was doing great.  Still very weak, I could talk and read a little bit, and write, even though my hand was quite shaky.  I was getting so much better so quickly that the dr.s said it couldn't be encephalitis, because that lasts up to a week or two.  I had recently started taking some dr. prescribed herbs to clear up some eczema, and the docs thought that could be a possible culprit. Then finally a neurologist decided I had a bladder infection and discharged me. (yes, I know!) Baffled, we headed home hoping it would never happen again. By now it was about 4 pm on Thursday.

Friday I start the day out resting, but at about 10:30 am I had another "attack", just like the first, only not as severe.  This time I had only a partial loss of language, and slightly less confusion, but the headache was still the same as was the debilitating weakness, and did I mention personality change?  Yea, after a few minutes of pain I turned into this Cruella DeVille type woman. So this hospital trip began with waiting about 45 minutes for the original neurologist to return to her office to help me.  This time she gave a diagnosis of migraines, had a few words with Elliott who then requested we transfer back to ER to get someone else's help. 

After eight full hours in ER with more blood tests, a visit from another neurologist, internal medicine dr. and a physch evaluation, roads seemed to point to the herbs causing some sort of reaction, but still not sure.  Since the herbs are from China they are not testable to see exactly what compounds are in them and if they could be causing these problems.  So this time I was sent home with some fast-acting pills to take in case this should happen again.  And mainly to wait.  To wait and make sure w don't have a repeat.  The doc thinks the herbs should all be out of my system by Sunday night, so if it occurs after that we will know to return to the hospital to look for another answer.

Blessedly, we have had several church people rushing over to take care of the kids and bring us meals.  Not sure what the kids were fed (probably way too much sugar), but they are fine and had a great time playing.  Although Micaiah is noticeably a little nervous and does not want me out of his sight.  Shaylee gave me the biggest smile when I got home and nursed her after my three day sequestering.  I think Ell is the worst off.  He has held up so well, but he is exhausted.  He really thought we'd be on our way back to the States by now seeking specialized help.  He has had a very emotional week and can't seem to catch up on enough sleep. All week we will have people here helping everyday, since it looks like this recovery is going to be a while.  

Thanks for all your prayers and concerns, and I hope I never report something like this again!