Thursday, June 5, 2008
Well I'm not sure where to begin on this entry, but I will do my best to fill you in regarding what all has gone on since Sunday night to today. That's not a very ominous beginning sentence for a blog entry, is it?
I believe it was this past Sunday, that we celebrated Joshua's birthday along with my cousin Chris's birthday, here at our house. My aunt and uncle and cousin all came over Sunday afternoon, and we all ate well and enjoyed one another's company, and the time was very well spent.
There came a point in the early evening where I began to feel quite poorly and tried to get up the stairs by myself. Missy saw me and called for her mom and they helped get me up the stairs and into bed. Once at the bed, the attack hit more effectively and I was unable to move, except for my head and neck. Jaw was locked, etc. Paralysis remained into the night and subsided around 3 AM.
Monday night brought another attack; I think it was just Josh and me in the house when it was clear that I was not only feeling poorly, but I all of a sudden began to become fearful and scared, very similar feelings to what I had felt when I was still working at FOPC, and I was in The Family Life Center, while I was working on the church's new microphone rolling chest. The attack that I suffered in the FLC over two years ago is chronicled at the beginning of my blog, but this attack was not the same as that, because in this attack, I did not lose consciousness as I did in the FLC, however the perception of fear was very similar. I put myself on oxygen and sat on the couch until CC returned. Once back, she realized that the oxygen tank that I was using needed to be changed and so she began to change the tanks. In the process of changing tanks, one of the tanks, the new tank that is, did not seal properly, (which I'm sure is not an uncommon case, using tanks that are used over and over and over again) and when she turned the tank on to check its pressure and begin its use, it made a very loud “GASP” sound when she turned it on and that sound, being loud, startled me, triggering an attack and literally freezing me at that moment. I was unable to move anything. Everything had frozen; my jaw, my hands, my arms, my fingers, my eye lids, etc. I was able t swallow, but not without great concentration and effort.
CC managed to get medicine into me and wanted to keep me on oxygen while going up the stairs to our bedroom which presented a slight 250 lb problem (me). She called Missy downstairs and Missy helped get me up the stairs. After having managed to get me up the stairs and into the hallway, they were able to both carry me and get me onto the bed. By this time, I was no longer frozen, but I could not move my arms, my legs, or my feet; they simply did not respond to my commands to move. I remained that way until the early hours of the morning, but then it hurt too much to move. On Monday, I spent pretty much all day in bed, the only real movement I was able to muster was with the walker to the bathroom and back, and that was a very slow travel.
Come Tuesday morning, it was very much the same as was Monday morning; hardly able to stand and hold my own weight and requiring the use of the walker to go from the bed to the bathroom and back. Debbie, the Home Health Care Nurse, came out Tuesday morning and took a full set of lab's from me and also confirmed that these attacks are all in-line with HKPP. She reiterated to us that I needed to be on oxygen, more often than not, especially following medicine intake, and that it is critical that I be on oxygen during and after an attack. Tuesday night brought another attack, completely depleting any energy and strength that I had gained from resting the previous days, while recovering.
Sunday night, Monday night, and Tuesday night's attacks were not as a result of food or anything of that sort. Sunday night, the attack was the same as Tuesday night’s attack; both due to a drop in potassium or simply low potassium. Monday night, the attack was triggered from me being very startled. My most recent labs have shown that my potassium has been running low, regardless of the number of supplements I have had. The nurse was concerned that I had become loaded on potassium due to all of the supplements and liquid potassium that I had ingested over the last few days, but all the labs came back showing my potassium to be lower than higher; by no means, was I loaded on potassium, in fact, my body was continually dumping the potassium out of my system. Each time there is an exchange of potassium in my system, I tend to suffer an attack as a result of that exchange. It is kind of just that simple.
Yesterday was Wednesday, and I'm thankful that I did not have an attack yesterday morning, afternoon and evening. By Wednesday evening, I was using the cane and just going very slowly instead of going with a walker.
I'm pretty sure that I did not mention that June 3 was CC's birthday! She and her mom share the same birthday; pretty unusual, huh? I managed to arrange to have some flowers delivered to her here at the house yesterday, but other than that, I was unable to go and get her gift to open on her birthday. I felt, and still do feel, like crap for not having gone out while I was feeling better, and purchasing her a gift. Most unfortunately, the kids did not remember or realize that it was her birthday, so neither of them wished her a happy birthday in the morning when she woke them up for school. To top it all of that off, I wasn't even able to take her out for dinner, due to feeling poorly and then suffering the attack. She took Joshua to his gymnastics class, which he has on Tuesday nights and Missy remained with me in the house, watching TV while sitting next to me on the bed. During and immediately after an attack, there really isn't very much that can be done for me outside of being in an emergency room. They just have to wait until the attack is completely done.
A number of weeks back CC and I had planned that I would go down to the Bay Area on Thursday (today), so that I could be in town for my niece's Friday morning graduation from high school. That plan stayed in place all the way until yesterday, when it was made really clear to me that I'm not in any real condition to travel, and that, should I make it down to the Bay Area in one peace without any problems, the graduation itself is going to be outdoors with no shade, approximately 2 hours long, and the weather prognosis indicated windy conditions. The handicapped seating is going to be middle-center of all the seating, which would be very awkward for me, should something go wrong.
This week has turned out to be vicious and very disappointing, at least so far. I do agree that it is not logical for me to try and make the graduation ceremony, and I do agree that just the traveling itself could cause problems at this point in the game, but my heart is there with my sister and her family, and especially with my niece Kirsten.
As it stands today, I believe that my parents are planning on coming up on Sunday afternoon and bringing with them, one or possibly two electronic chairs for me to test out and try out, so I hope that that will end the week in good stead, that is to say, 180° from how it began.
Last night, Missy attended her school's eighth grade graduation, which was held at Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church, where I used to work. My very good friend Rob ran sound for the event; Rob was my Chief Tech when I finished my tenure at FOPC, and he became the head of the department, fulfilling my responsibilities in my absence. Both Missy and CC attended the graduation itself, and both said that the sound was excellent, something that does not surprise me one bit. Rob is excellent at what he does and he is passionate to do the best job each time he steps into the booth. I wish that could be said of all techs in all churches, but unfortunately, it cannot. FOPC is very fortunate to have such a skilled and passionate craftsman as Rob. The same is true for First Pres Roseville having Craig Fetter at their technical helm; they could not ask for, or want for more. Both churches are impressively blessed to have these two superb technicians and I am equally blessed to call them my friends.
This sentence concludes this entry in the blog; we shall see, what this evening, and then tomorrow holds in store.
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