- If you have a TIA there is 33% chance to never have another one
- Another 33% chance you will have them repeatedly
- The last 33% chance is that the TIA is an indicator of an impending full blown stroke
Thursday, October 20, 2005
TIA - Transient Ischemic Attack
The doctors said Pace could have had a transient ischemic attack (TIA). A TIA is a type of "minor" stroke that lasts only a few minutes. And while Pace has many of the symptoms, she's outside the usual clinical age range for this.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
A God fearing interuption
The last three days have thrown my life upside down. Here's how it started...
We moved into our new home a week ago and the place was already 90% together. Pace, like most women I know, doesn't like the look of a box filled bachelor pad. So we'd been working hard to whip the place into "home." Pace's Mom, France, had come down to give us a hand. Seeing as she reorganizes our place every time she comes for a visit anyways; I figure why not let her get it right the first time we do it!
It was going on 7:30 in the evening and we had not eaten since lunch. I'd made and served a pasta chicken pesto. It was getting cold and I was having trouble trying to corral Pace, the wee one and France to the table. It's funny how I remember it was rotini.
"Pace! What are you doing?" I called.
"I coming" she says.
A couple of minutes pass and I call again.
"Pace! What are you doing?"
As she comes around the corner, she started falling and the grabbed the door frame for support. She would have gone straight to the floor.
"Babe? You O.K?" feeling my stomach start to knot.
"I don't feel well" she replied and started to cry.
"Sit down sweets, maybe your blood sugar is down."
France was asking Pace what was wrong as she sat down and I got a glass of orange juice.
The juice didn't help.
Then she said started to look anxious and stammered out."Babe, I can't feel my left side. I can't feel my leg. What's wrong with me?"
The next 15 minutes was one of those "slow motion" moments where you try to keep you head screwed on properly as your life is suddenly careening out of control.
I called Tele-Health on the phone and described the situation, the nurse asked to talk to Pace for a couple of minutes. Pace hung up the phone and said an ambulance was coming.
Within five minutes of that call there were paramedics at the door. I asked France to take the wee one to her room so she didn't get traumatized by the paramedics working on Pace. It was also to keep her out from underfoot of the emergency crew. She's as curious as me.
They checked Pace out from head to toe and then the male paramedic took Pace's hands, held them out in front of her at shoulder height and told Pace to keep them there. Her right arm stayed put. The left arm drifted off to the side and back down till it was motionless beside her body. My brain was screaming "No! NO! NOOOO!!
My heart jumped into my mouth. I was really scared. We'd just been talking about how good it was to be having a new start and a new place. This is not a good example of a new start.
"No," I thought. "This can't be happening. There's no way I can manage getting Pace up and down the stairs, into the bath tub and all the other things if she's paralyzed."
My head was spinning. Then I started thinking about raising the wee one with Pace immobilized. Sure we'd manage, but...
The paramedics had her off to the hospital within minutes of that test. Pace couldn't walk properly, her gait was off and it was as though her left side couldn't support her. The paramedics half walked, half carried her to the ambulance.
"Oh God please don't let her be paralyzed." I prayed and set off in our car chasing the ambulance downtown.
When I caught up to them again at our "Jewish General" Pace was conscious but not mentally present. Turns out she'd had another episode in the ambulance. I stayed by her side and did my best to keep our minds on something else. She started to get back the feeling in her arms and legs.
Pace was admitted to emergency, given a CAT scan of the head and a cardiology test. Both came back clean. No brain damage. Thank God!
The doctor was ready to dismiss it as a "neurological event" and send us home. I told him about the paramedic's test, he paused and announced that he'd order some tests through the ambulatory clinic and sent us on our way.
Pace walked out of the hospital about 5 hours after it all began and and we drove home. It was surreal and hard to process.
We moved into our new home a week ago and the place was already 90% together. Pace, like most women I know, doesn't like the look of a box filled bachelor pad. So we'd been working hard to whip the place into "home." Pace's Mom, France, had come down to give us a hand. Seeing as she reorganizes our place every time she comes for a visit anyways; I figure why not let her get it right the first time we do it!
It was going on 7:30 in the evening and we had not eaten since lunch. I'd made and served a pasta chicken pesto. It was getting cold and I was having trouble trying to corral Pace, the wee one and France to the table. It's funny how I remember it was rotini.
"Pace! What are you doing?" I called.
"I coming" she says.
A couple of minutes pass and I call again.
"Pace! What are you doing?"
As she comes around the corner, she started falling and the grabbed the door frame for support. She would have gone straight to the floor.
"Babe? You O.K?" feeling my stomach start to knot.
"I don't feel well" she replied and started to cry.
"Sit down sweets, maybe your blood sugar is down."
France was asking Pace what was wrong as she sat down and I got a glass of orange juice.
The juice didn't help.
Then she said started to look anxious and stammered out."Babe, I can't feel my left side. I can't feel my leg. What's wrong with me?"
The next 15 minutes was one of those "slow motion" moments where you try to keep you head screwed on properly as your life is suddenly careening out of control.
I called Tele-Health on the phone and described the situation, the nurse asked to talk to Pace for a couple of minutes. Pace hung up the phone and said an ambulance was coming.
Within five minutes of that call there were paramedics at the door. I asked France to take the wee one to her room so she didn't get traumatized by the paramedics working on Pace. It was also to keep her out from underfoot of the emergency crew. She's as curious as me.
They checked Pace out from head to toe and then the male paramedic took Pace's hands, held them out in front of her at shoulder height and told Pace to keep them there. Her right arm stayed put. The left arm drifted off to the side and back down till it was motionless beside her body. My brain was screaming "No! NO! NOOOO!!
My heart jumped into my mouth. I was really scared. We'd just been talking about how good it was to be having a new start and a new place. This is not a good example of a new start.
"No," I thought. "This can't be happening. There's no way I can manage getting Pace up and down the stairs, into the bath tub and all the other things if she's paralyzed."
My head was spinning. Then I started thinking about raising the wee one with Pace immobilized. Sure we'd manage, but...
The paramedics had her off to the hospital within minutes of that test. Pace couldn't walk properly, her gait was off and it was as though her left side couldn't support her. The paramedics half walked, half carried her to the ambulance.
"Oh God please don't let her be paralyzed." I prayed and set off in our car chasing the ambulance downtown.
When I caught up to them again at our "Jewish General" Pace was conscious but not mentally present. Turns out she'd had another episode in the ambulance. I stayed by her side and did my best to keep our minds on something else. She started to get back the feeling in her arms and legs.
Pace was admitted to emergency, given a CAT scan of the head and a cardiology test. Both came back clean. No brain damage. Thank God!
The doctor was ready to dismiss it as a "neurological event" and send us home. I told him about the paramedic's test, he paused and announced that he'd order some tests through the ambulatory clinic and sent us on our way.
Pace walked out of the hospital about 5 hours after it all began and and we drove home. It was surreal and hard to process.
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