We made it to the great state of MN and had my initial consultation with Neurology this morning at the lovely hour of 7 am. It took a mere 3 hours to go over everything...then it was off to get some blood drawn of course! We're already feeling great about what will come from this trip. Since they've dealt with cases like mine, they speak with a lot of confidence about the factors causing the kind of stroke I had as well as treatments. They were also very supportive of what they called "the perfect treatment" I received in Peoria.
Here's the basics of what they said.(Keep in mind this is prior to their review tomorrow of my actual films from the CT scans and MRIs from my hospital stay. Then we'll meet with them again Wed. to see where we stand and if they want to run more similar tests.) As far as the bloood thinner and seizure medication being life time treatments...they don't think that's the case at all. A year is more of the timeline they're thinking! Yay! At that point, I'll need to have more testing on all of the blood clotting factors...can't have them while I'm on the meds. Also, epilepsy is not a diagnosis they are convinced of because the type of stroke I had commonly occurs with seizures. Double Yay! They are also very encouraging of my weening off the steroids, which I've already begun...thanks goodness because I'm running out of stretchy pants that are ok to wear in public! In the meantime, considering this is a blood issue, I'll be meeting with a Hemotologist as well.
One other thing I asked about was the extra fatigue I've had in the past week and what to attribute that to. They said it is not related to my blood thickness or change in that level, rather it was probably due to me getting back into the swing of higher level exercise and more regular daily activities (and mom and I getting so much of the house packed up!). Basically they said I need to remember that I'm less than 2 months out of a major head trauma that severely affected my body so I need to remember the word recovery should still be in my vocabulary as frustrating as that might be for me! I'll take that as a compliment!
We'll keep you posted!
This just doesn't do it justice! It's huge!
This is me at the bottom of the Mayo builing above.
Jake has decided a medical career wouldn't be so bad...too bad the employee entrance was an exit only for him!
