Today I got a roommate! She listens to VERY LOUD tv, and belches a lot. She apparently got moved out of another room
which had a child and family who "wanted more space." Hey!! I want more
room!
I got a visit from the big cheese neurologist today, together with the resident and main day nurse. We talked about background history, and they decided to stop all of my medicines to try to expedite seizure action. That was expected. As they left the room
and walked down the hall, the big cheese said, "She's interesting..."
but I couldn't hear the rest!! Drat!!
One more point if interest today was that I was "paged" five times by the person doing the video monitoring to see if I'm
ok. They aren't doing that to my roommate, so I wonder what I'm doing to
prompt it? I will ask the doctor tomorrow.
Otherwise, I am hot, have a headache, and feel slightly nauseous. Is this med withdrawal?
10 November 2009
09 November 2009
UVA Hospital: Day One
As many of you know, I am checked into the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at the University of Virginia hospital. In brief, after several years and half a dozen or so medication changes, I just don't feel good. I'm tired all of the time, my memory is not what it should be, and I'm unable to live the life I want or fully enjoy the life that I have. After a "quality of life" discussion with my local neurologist and reaching an understanding that medications are unusually complicated for me, he referred me to the epilepsy specialists at the University of Virginia.
So here I am.
The trip here was beautiful. Floyd drove me up here in my Taurus and mapquest's fastest route involved driving past quaint towns, on scenic byways, and past stunning landscapes like rocky crags near Old Ragtop Mountain. It was glorious! Parking at the hospital was a rather abyssmal end to the otherwise lovely drive. There was one garage that was packed, but the lady in front of us was driving crazy. She pulled into a ridiculously narrow spot between two long trucks and came a sliver away from ramming one truck's bumper. Oh so close. We drove up for what felt like a dozen levels before we scored an uber spot on the same aisle as the stairwell. But really, parking here was traumatic!! Even Floyd commented that it would have been soooo much better to have Mom driving with her handicap parking tag. Yes, I'll admit it, I would have mooched her phat parking priviledges.
Once I got here, I was funneled to the EEG lab on the basement of the primary care center, where they hooked up a bunch of electrodes to my scalp. The process involves measuring my skull, marking a bunch of Xs in red all over my head. The technician had to deal with my very long hair, and told me that the EEG tehnicians all fight over the bald men! After marking me up, she scrubbed each spot with a sandpapery liquid that she said (a) removed the outer layer of skin and (b) removed natural oils fromthe scalp. Then she stuck a pile of glue and conductive paste on each spot, applied the electrode, and dried it using a super super cold air blower. I then had a 20 minute EEG to get a base reading, which involves laying still, hyperventilating, and a strobe light. Afterwards, a neurologist gave me a physical. She really enjoyed using the reflex thingum on my left knee, which was not as anxious to reflex as my right!
On to the epilepsy ward I went, where they wanted to put an IV in my forearm. That sounded painful to me so we went with my hand. We had to choose a hand. I was trying to figure out whether my left or right hand was less critical for gaming, but the tech said, "Which hand do you wipe with?" *quiet pause* She won. I'll be honest - the IV frickin hurt. It felt like the vein in my hand was going to burst!! A little bit later I had to give away four vials of blood. Floyd walked away for a little bit whilst I was pumping up the vials. I can't blame him. I would have walked away too if I could.
Speaking of walking away, I am tethered to my bed. I have a box hanging around my neck into which the EEG lines feed, and that box is connected to an industrial strength black cable which connects to the recording/transmitting equipment. The tether was stuck around my little table on wheels but Floyd was kind enough to unravel it so that I could go pee. A note with regard to peeing here, I have another blog in the works for that topic alone!!
Floyd left before dark at my insistence to make his drive home easier, as the poor lad has to work this week. I almost fell asleep but fought it, because I didn't want to miss dinner, which consisted of chicken (too thick for me to eat - I like my meat thin), a roll, iced tea, and a smattering of corn and what I *think* was kale. The best part was the fresh sliced strawberry at the bottom of my yogurty-granola dessert. As you might guess, I am soooooo hungry right now. Soooooooo hungry!! I am ravenously looking forward to my cheerio breakfast!!!
A few other notes. I am visited by a nurse about once every two hours. I was given a gigantic 32 ounce sippy cup of water which has a locked lid. Thr sides of my bed stay up and are covered with padding. The room is a bit warm. I have a sock with a thumb hole cut in it over my hand to keep the IV from accidentally tearing out. And, I have three wristbands. One with my name. One classifying me as a fall risk (BRIGHT YELLOW) and one noting that I have medication allergies (FIREHOUSE RED). Sigh. We'll
see how things go tomorrow after the doctors review my first night's data!
So here I am.
The trip here was beautiful. Floyd drove me up here in my Taurus and mapquest's fastest route involved driving past quaint towns, on scenic byways, and past stunning landscapes like rocky crags near Old Ragtop Mountain. It was glorious! Parking at the hospital was a rather abyssmal end to the otherwise lovely drive. There was one garage that was packed, but the lady in front of us was driving crazy. She pulled into a ridiculously narrow spot between two long trucks and came a sliver away from ramming one truck's bumper. Oh so close. We drove up for what felt like a dozen levels before we scored an uber spot on the same aisle as the stairwell. But really, parking here was traumatic!! Even Floyd commented that it would have been soooo much better to have Mom driving with her handicap parking tag. Yes, I'll admit it, I would have mooched her phat parking priviledges.
Once I got here, I was funneled to the EEG lab on the basement of the primary care center, where they hooked up a bunch of electrodes to my scalp. The process involves measuring my skull, marking a bunch of Xs in red all over my head. The technician had to deal with my very long hair, and told me that the EEG tehnicians all fight over the bald men! After marking me up, she scrubbed each spot with a sandpapery liquid that she said (a) removed the outer layer of skin and (b) removed natural oils fromthe scalp. Then she stuck a pile of glue and conductive paste on each spot, applied the electrode, and dried it using a super super cold air blower. I then had a 20 minute EEG to get a base reading, which involves laying still, hyperventilating, and a strobe light. Afterwards, a neurologist gave me a physical. She really enjoyed using the reflex thingum on my left knee, which was not as anxious to reflex as my right!
On to the epilepsy ward I went, where they wanted to put an IV in my forearm. That sounded painful to me so we went with my hand. We had to choose a hand. I was trying to figure out whether my left or right hand was less critical for gaming, but the tech said, "Which hand do you wipe with?" *quiet pause* She won. I'll be honest - the IV frickin hurt. It felt like the vein in my hand was going to burst!! A little bit later I had to give away four vials of blood. Floyd walked away for a little bit whilst I was pumping up the vials. I can't blame him. I would have walked away too if I could.
Speaking of walking away, I am tethered to my bed. I have a box hanging around my neck into which the EEG lines feed, and that box is connected to an industrial strength black cable which connects to the recording/transmitting equipment. The tether was stuck around my little table on wheels but Floyd was kind enough to unravel it so that I could go pee. A note with regard to peeing here, I have another blog in the works for that topic alone!!
Floyd left before dark at my insistence to make his drive home easier, as the poor lad has to work this week. I almost fell asleep but fought it, because I didn't want to miss dinner, which consisted of chicken (too thick for me to eat - I like my meat thin), a roll, iced tea, and a smattering of corn and what I *think* was kale. The best part was the fresh sliced strawberry at the bottom of my yogurty-granola dessert. As you might guess, I am soooooo hungry right now. Soooooooo hungry!! I am ravenously looking forward to my cheerio breakfast!!!
A few other notes. I am visited by a nurse about once every two hours. I was given a gigantic 32 ounce sippy cup of water which has a locked lid. Thr sides of my bed stay up and are covered with padding. The room is a bit warm. I have a sock with a thumb hole cut in it over my hand to keep the IV from accidentally tearing out. And, I have three wristbands. One with my name. One classifying me as a fall risk (BRIGHT YELLOW) and one noting that I have medication allergies (FIREHOUSE RED). Sigh. We'll
see how things go tomorrow after the doctors review my first night's data!
12 April 2009
What's in the queue?
I've been playing the game Scramble in my iPhone, which is a variation on Boggle and suchforth. You have a square made of up letters, and make words by using letters that touch one another either on one side or diagonally. Its simple and fun!
Having played this game a little over the last week, I have a problem with the letter "Q." In Scramble, every letter gets its own separate block, except for Q! Q becomes "Qu" in these word games. They can't be separated! Does Q suffer from separation anxiety, or does U just refuse to leave Q alone?
Either way, the U seems completely redundant. When you pronounce the letter Q, the sound of the U is inherent. Why not just make things easier on everyone, and leave off that silly U? Think of the difference this would make. Imagine all the time it would save to not have to include that extra letter! Imagine how much ink would be saved in not having to print it! Wouldn't it be grand to not have to devote time teaching an archaic mode of spelling to generations of schoolchildren? Wouldn't people learning English as a second language breathe a sigh of relief to not have to remember "Q before U?"
Here's to Qince! Qick! Qit! Qarterly! Qeen! Qart! and Qery! Muahahahaha!
Having played this game a little over the last week, I have a problem with the letter "Q." In Scramble, every letter gets its own separate block, except for Q! Q becomes "Qu" in these word games. They can't be separated! Does Q suffer from separation anxiety, or does U just refuse to leave Q alone?
Either way, the U seems completely redundant. When you pronounce the letter Q, the sound of the U is inherent. Why not just make things easier on everyone, and leave off that silly U? Think of the difference this would make. Imagine all the time it would save to not have to include that extra letter! Imagine how much ink would be saved in not having to print it! Wouldn't it be grand to not have to devote time teaching an archaic mode of spelling to generations of schoolchildren? Wouldn't people learning English as a second language breathe a sigh of relief to not have to remember "Q before U?"
Here's to Qince! Qick! Qit! Qarterly! Qeen! Qart! and Qery! Muahahahaha!
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