This is just a quick entry to explain what happened today and why I’ve not really spoken to anyone and said yeah drs fine, 1) because i’m too exhausted and 2) because I don’t know whats what yet.
Well today after a night of head pain and added noise of a cold and windy night and out back gate banging in the wind and hence very little sleep I toke to a day at the dr.’s…. little did I know this at the time. The 1hour job ended up taking 4 hours! A lot of waiting was involved and Im now typing this after having a sleep and I still feel exhausted!
I left the house at 8:45 and managed to get my appointment with the dr, We just went over what had happened over the past couple of weeks and made some minor medication adjustments and then was sent for a ECG. Last time I had a ECG my heart rate was slow and as I am now on the new drug which can cause problems with the heart they are keeping and eye on it. I was really pleased when I asked the nurse from behind the curtain if my heart rate had gone up and she said yes… I thought this was going to be far better than my last appointment. How wrong could I be.
I got dressed and the nurse said she would show the dr. Well it turns out there was something wrong with the ECG this time… I was ready for it though as Id been given a copy of the ECG which read “abnormal ECG”. I was tired, cold, my head and feet hurt and I was fed up with waiting !
An hour nearly passed in which time all things wonder through your head. Finally the nurse came back and blurted some stuff which I have no idea what it meant “A Junctional rhythm with non-specific ST and T wave abnormality – Abnormal ECG”which was pointed out to me on this paper followed by a the doctor wants you to book another ECG friday afternoon with an appointment to see her afterwards. Well i though i’d never get an appointment for that soon and for both at the same time… well actually I did which is unheard of at our surgery… normally I’ve been booking my ECG’s a week and a half beforehand. So mum was standing looking kinda freaked out… to be honest Im not overtly worried, Yes I’ve had some chest pain but this isn’t anything new from my last ECG and nothing bad has happened yet so why worry what a few lines on a bit of paper say!. Friday is just 2 days away so we will find out more then. For now i’m not thinking about it.
Needless to say being at the dr’s for that long was exhausting, I’ve had a little sleep and now plan a long hot soak in the bath.
Other than the escapades of today things have been slowing down a bit. The headaches are easing although still getting on average 3 attacks a day. Im now able to concentrate a bit more on the fundraiser and am making awareness ribbons and other things ready for 19th October. Its all quite exciting as i’ve never done anything this big and organised the lot before. Its going to be really good though and Im really hoping people turn up so we can raise lots!
Well Friday I had my repeat ECG. It was a bit of a nightmare and I’m putting it down to being Friday 13th even though I’m not really supersticious. The surgery computers had crashed and that included
the ECG machine. They finally got half of it up and running so I was able to have the test done. The dr came in while I was having it done as she wanted to see it. It turns out that the on previously had shown I had first degree heart block. The dr was hoping that the heart would recover and only do this occasionally and recover in between which it looks like it does. At least I know know why I get my chest pain every now and then however good news is that so far I can still stay on the pills but need close monitoring.
Well the last couple of months have been full of ups and downs.
The ups being good days and playing music, meeting friends and the bad being hospital visits, consultant meetings, results and I still cant see out my left eye !
A few weeks ago now I met with my consultant, and another consultant from a high up place in the care of epilepsy in the whole of kent who was lovely but this meeting totally confused me as It was a surprise not to be just my normal consultant. I always have questions to ask my consultant but it all went out the window when I went in and the other man was there, therefore I didnt get chance to say hardly any of what I wanted to ask. In fact I left with more questions.
The man was there to talk about my situation and the posibility of doing something more invasive like surgery. This has been spoken about in the past and I was told a few months previous it looks like it may be possible…. it turns now that this isnt a option yet as my seizures dont just originate from my temporal lobe like they have done all my life but now have also spread to the occipital (explaining the loss of vision from my left eye). This for me was a complete kick in the stomach yet good news as well as at least I knew why my eye had been on and off and now pretty much off for the duration of time.
I liked the extra consultant yet It was a really difficult meeting being told that the end of the line as to what they can do is very near. If surgery isnt a option and the drugs are not working then at the moment we are at a standstill. However there are a couple of other options being looked into as I type so for now all is not lost… its close but we’re not there yet.
The other issue we spoke about in the meeting was my cluster headaches. It makes things more difficult that I have these as well as medication reacts and all sorts of things which I dont really understand myself yet they just said its a little more complicated and they tread carefully. Anyway there was this drug I was told I could try a few months ago. I had to have a ECG though to check my heart as it reacts with the heart. I had the ECG done and I wanted to now start the drug so I brought the subject up. This too was not a option as the ECG came back with a problem…. yet they didnt say what, and that was one of the questions I forgot to ask as they went into a different subject before I could really finnish what I was about to say.
I left the appointment a bit grumpy and down. It was hard being told the end of the road is neigh, but i had a few answers and I knew not to panic about my eye too much and I knew they were now working hard to find me some answers and help.
Still, got to keep going, have faith and “just keep swimming, Just keep swimming” !
Now to wait for the reply and answers.
My experience with epilepsy
