My Medical Update

Today, I finally got the results of several tests I had taken at The Stroke Prevention Clinic.
Results of various tests were generally better than anticipated!





MRI:

No evidence of acute stroke. (Yah!)

Carotid Arteries (Neck): Right has a little plaque, left has none. (Yah! That means no surgery to remove plaque!)

There are non-specific white matter changes which may be ischemic in nature. (localised tissue anemia due to obstruction of the inflow of arterial blood) (And I thought it was the GREY that MATTERED! Not really sure what all that could mean.)

Demyelination (indicating MS) is a possibility, though the diagnosis cannot be made on the basis of this MRI. (I'm hoping never to get MS.)



And Just as a Bonus they found...!

My pituitary gland is prominent and at the upper limits of normal for size. (Does this mean I may still grow?!!)

There is fluid through the right mastoid bone and into the middle ear cavity.
NO KIDDING! I have not been able to hear for 5 months now! I had my ear drum punctured and vacuumed (ouch!) last Friday and it simply filled up again. The ear and bone/muscles attaching all over my neck and back of the ear are very sore and I will most likely require surgery to insert tubes in my ears.

Bottom line is ...it could be a lot worse and....I need to tighten blood sugar control, (it's not good!) exercise as much as I can, and keep taking meds for cholesterol and to thin blood. I'm going to go to a Diabetes Education Centre and perhaps get more information on the insulin pump. (I am resistant to this as I tried it before and hated the needle constantly under the skin of the abdomen, but we'll see.)

I'll be going on some holidays to my sister's cottage from Wed. to Sun.!
Catch you all later and thanks for your concern!

Bit of a Health Scare For MOI!

Just thought I'd update you on some pretty scary health issues that have happened in the last month.

I've had 2 episodes where my vision has gone funny for about 15 minutes and I went to the surgeon and he said not much is wrong with my eyes and it's more likely to be stroke warning. TIA's are transient ischemic attacks and many diabetics get them so that's what I was afraid of.

At the choir pot luck Tues. night, I told Elaine, who was also the cardiac nurse in my rehab. program after I had an angioplasty following a heart attack last year,(ya gotta love this small town!) and she said I should go to the Stroke Centre at a hospital to get assessed. She had all the forms ready for me by 9:00, Wed., I picked them up and spoke to the head of the program. I got them filled in by my GP today and faxed. The hospital will phone me and hopefully I should go on Tues. 12th.

I'll get a full work-up..maybe an ultra-sound of the carotid artery in the neck etc. and some different meds for stroke prevention. She said not to get my heart rate up too high until they know results, but not do nothing..hard to know what to do!! Feel like a time bomb ticking!

Everything is kind of on hold for a few days and I'll keep you posted. It would be an understatement to say I'm a little frightened! I'm absolutely shaking in my boots! And I've been crying a lot too. I'm such a sap and a wimp!

Life can be a crap shoot. I can't really do much but what they advise once I get testing done....and maybe you can't mess with "His Master Plan anyway.


Mother of Invention, holding out for the best.