Back to the ER again...

On Monday the kids didn't have school so they were all home.  I woke up feeling pretty good and my mom, Scott, Sadie and I were going to go to Sears because my mom had to pick something up and Sadie needed some new church shoes.  She had been wearing her sandals all winter and I figured we should probably get her some that would at least cover her feet when it snowed.  We got in the car and that is when I started to realize I wasn't doing as great as I thought I was.  My head started hurting in the car.  Whenever we hit a bump or anything it really hurt my head.  So we went to Sears and found 2 pairs of shoes for Sadie and paid only like 9 dollars or something because of some cash that my mom had with the store (thanks mom!).  So when we got home from that trip, I took some of the stronger medication and sat around the rest of the day.  I think I remember my friend Robyn and her two girls stopping by and I talked with her for a bit.  I kept saying sorry because I was on my stronger medication so I was worried I was saying weird things.  Ha ha.

Then i just was getting worse and worse...I laid down in my bed and I remember hearing Rob and the kids start family home evening.  The next thing I know Rob came into the room and I told him my head was really hurting.  (I think all I said was "it hurts it hurts it hurts!!!" ha ha) So he thought a change of position might help.  I remember him picking me up and transferring me to the floor with my feet up on a chair.  Next thing I can remember is my mom coming in and kneeling on the floor next to me.  That is when I threw up.  Fortunately I had one of those handy barf bag that the ER nurse gifted me at the ready.  I threw up and then went back to sleep.  That is the last thing I remember from Monday night.  I guess at about midnight Rob tried to wake me up and he wasn't able to.  I wasn't responsive so he packed me into the van and he sped me to the ER and had to keep pushing me back onto the seat because I was kinda flopping over.  When we got there he said he tried to get me out of the car but didn't feel like he could without whacking my head on the door frame.  So he ran (lickety-split) into the ER and told a nurse that I was unresponsive and he needed help getting me out of the car.  So the nurse came out and helped get me onto a wheelchair...

...(Rob typing) I had just got off of a conference call with President Trump and Supreme Leader Kim helping them negotiate NK's nuclear disarmament.  I told them I couldn't talk long because Lindsey was in need.  So after getting off the phone with them I ran into the ER and got the ER nurse.  He accompanied me and helped me lift Lindsey into the wheelchair and we went into the ER.  If you remember the last time in the ER we had to wait for a long time.  This time not so.  The immediately recognized my famous visage and got a room ready (room 19) as we walked back.  Being the modest man that I am I decided to not sign any autographs on the way back to the room.  I told my fans that I'd be available once they stabilized Lindsey.

In the room they stripped Lindsey down and put on the revealing but not very flattering one piece hospital suit.  I asked if they had an outfit more befitting her high social status, but they did not.

I noticed that her head had swelled up considerably.  That had me pretty worried.

The doctors came in and began to do tests on her.  "Lift your left leg."  She lifted her left leg.  "Lift your right leg."  She didn't/couldn't.  "Follow my finger with your eyes."  She was able to.  "Can you speak?"  She could not.  They noted that her right eye wasn't dilating.  Then they left.  I started to feel fear sneak in, probably for the first time during this ordeal.  I thought I might lose her.  That was tough for me.  I prayed and cried a bit.  The came back in pretty quick and whisked her off to for a CT scan.

...(Lindsey typing now)I guess on Monday night around 1:30 am my mom woke up Scott and told him she wasn't going to be able to sleep and asked him if he wanted to watch "Hidden Figures" with her.  So they watched it in the middle of the night.  We had rented it earlier that day because we were going to watch it that night. I "woke up" Tuesday morning around 9 am.  I realized I was in the hospital and Rob was sleeping in the oh so comfortable rocking chair in the Nuero ICU room.  While I was out of it they put a drain back in my skull to drain the fluid that had collected under there.  They told me they were going to have to put a shunt in to drain the fluid down to my abdomen where the fluid will just reabsorb into my body.  But they couldn't do the surgery right away because I had a temperature and they weren't sure if it was from an infection or what.  They couldn't do the surgery if I had an infection.  So they made me wait and wait. 

If I remember right...Monday was the day that my dad headed back to AZ and my brother Scott was supposed to leave on Tuesday.  He skipped his flight to and got a new one to fly out on Wednesday so he could stay and help with stuff.  I thought it was funny that while my brother and dad were in town to help, I was doing pretty well, it wasn't until they left or were about to leave that I really needed help!  ha ha.  My brother and Laurel both came to visit me on Wednesday at the same time and it was fun chatting and watching The Price is Right with them.  

Anyway, finally on Thursday the nurses told me I was going to have the surgery to place the shunt so I couldn't eat until after the surgery.  I remember being told I would probably get a catheter for during the surgery so I didn't worry about going to the bathroom before they wheeled me away.  When I got to the operating room I remember them wheeling me in and I was talking to Dr. House.  I asked if I was going to be getting a catheter and he said probably not because the surgery should only take like an hour and a half.  I was a little bit worried about peeing myself during the surgery but before I could say anything about it the whole room started to spin.  I think he asked me if I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, but I couldn't answer him because the room was spinning around.  ha ha.  But I guess I did ok, because nobody said anything.  :)

I woke up with an oxygen mask on my face.  I talked to Rob for a little bit and then Dr. House and the special nurses that were always with him came into my room.  I asked if I could take off the oxygen mask because it was really bugging me and drying out my mouth and nose.  They said I could.  Thank goodness!!! 

This was me soon after I woke up from them putting the drain in my head (left) and soon after waking up from the first surgery (right). 

They put the shunt in between the dura and the brain.  So it wasn't in my ventricles, it was kinda on top of my brain.  They thought that would be good.  I don't remember much about after that first surgery.  Apparently I started having a headache that night.  I think they took me for a CT scan to check things out.  Dr. House thought we should put the shunt into the ventricles after looking at the scan.  He said it was common because of swelling and stuff that the shunt would move around.He thought that might have been what happened.  He wanted to move the shunt into my ventricles the next day.  

This time when they wheeled me into the operating room I remember all the way up until they transferred me onto the operating table.  I thought it was funny that each time I went in I remembered just a little bit more.  

I came out of surgery and they finally brought me food but I wasn't feeling like eating.  I tried to force myself to eat some apples and pretzels because I knew that if I didn't eat they wouldn't let me go home.  Once when Dr. House came in to see me, as he was leaving, my mom and I overheard him say "That's not normal."   I don't remember what it was about, but it made me a little nervous.  

By Sunday they finally said I could go home.  I was feeling a little better.  Enough to force myself to eat when they brought me food.  They had changed my medication so maybe that's why I was feeling better.  

My mom took this picture and highlighted all of the places where I had an iv or something else sticking into me.  The worst part was that whenever I bent my arms and alarm would go off because I had an iv there and it would pinch off the iv or something.  I'm still not exactly sure why the alarm would go off, but I learned to sleep without moving my arms!  ha ha.

Rob's aunt Bonita and two of her grand kids came to visit us in the hospital.  She couldn't come up to my room because I was still on the 4th floor and no kids allowed on that floor.  So Rob went down and said hello to her and visited with her.  One of the little girls apparently got her head stuck in a tight space down there.  Rob had to help her get it out.  He said multiple nurses walked right on by as he was trying to pull her head out.  ha ha.  He eventually got it out.  She was fine.  

This was my happy dance when they finally let me out of the hospital!   I wasn't feeling super great yet, but I was happy that I could go home and see my kids!

This is what my head looked like after my 3rd surgery.  Pretty scary huh?!  I called it my Frankenstein scar.  I was worried about how it would look when it was healed.  It looks much better now.  :)

I got home from the hospital on Sunday and things were looking up.  I was having more energy and was able to do more things around the house.  I mostly laid around though because I was scared that if I did too much I would end up back in the ER.  I did NOT want that. The next Sunday evening I started to notice that I was having double vision.  At this point it wasn't too bad and if I concentrated hard enough I could correct it.  The next day was Monday.  The double vision started getting worse.  I remember I walked out into the living room and my mom said "Lindsey, your eyes are crossed!"  No wonder I'm seeing double if my eyes are crossed.  By the early afternoon it was just getting worse and we decided I should probably go into the ER again.  Ugh.  Mondays are the worst.  Every ER trip that I made was on a Monday!  So I called Rob to see if he could come home about an hour early to take me to the ER.  He headed home and we went in.  Nobody was there waiting so they brought us right back.  On our way out later that night it was packed.  Tons of people waiting.  We got there right at the right time!  I got another CT scan and I think I also got an xray to check and make sure the shunt was looking ok.  Everything looked good and they said basically my brain is adjusting to not having fluid in it anymore so that might be why I'm seeing double.  They asked me questions like "are the images side by side or up and down?" so I guess that makes a difference. 

So here are some pictures of my cross eyes.  They aren't crossed anymore, but I'm still seeing double only if I look to the left with my eyes.  Hopefully they continue to get better.

I was wearing an eye patch on my eye for a while but that was bugging me.  It would get itchy and sweaty in there and it would touch my eye lashes which was annoying.  So I switched to wearing that sleep mask just over one eye.  It was much more comfortable.  Then I went to an appt with a Neuro-Opthamologist and he told me I could just get some plain glasses without a prescription and put tape over one side.  My mom suggested that I use my washi tape to pretty it up a bit.  I loved that suggestion! 

Now i try to only wear the glasses when I'm driving to hopefully help my left eye heal faster.  The Dr. said it could take weeks to months to heal.  I was hoping for weeks, but it has been over a month now that I've been seeing double.  We will see what happens.  Hopefully it will go away, but if not, they have prism stickers they can put on glasses for me I think.