This is a blog that is long overdue. on June 22, 2017 I went to workout at the Y early in the morning like I usually do. I forgot my water bottle, but I did a vigorous routine anyway. After showering I had coffee and chatted with my friend, Marcia. I wasn't paying attention to how much coffee I was drinking. I started feeling dizzy and Marcia walked me to my car and made me promise to let her know if I made it home safely. I figured it was just from hunger so after getting home and informing Marcia I was fine; I ate some breakfast. The dizziness wasn't going away but I figured as long as I was sitting I would be fine. To be on the safe side Zach drove me to work. I didn't last long there.
The bouncy area that I sit in can ramp up any MS symptoms I am having and I started to spiral pretty quickly. I sent my manager and her back up a message that I wasn't feeling too great. Andrea (the back-up manager) came over and asked what was going on. As I was explaining how I was feeling I started loosing the ability to speak. then my hands started to become weak. She said she wanted to contact the emergency response crew and remove me from the call center. She had to hold me up because my legs were starting to give out too and I could barely hold on to my cane.
In a conference room two of the emergency guys joined us. I was really struggling to talk, so Andrea got me a pad of paper and a pen but with my weak hands writing wasn't easy either. Sign Language was the best option, so I asked if anyone knew Sign. One guy boasted that he knew sign. I was thrilled! So, I started signing. and his eyes got as big as saucers. So I slowed down and condensed my signs. I could tell he still wasn't getting it. So much for that. We got a hold of Zach and had him pick me up.
Zach drove us home first to get Samantha and then the three of us went to Urgent Care. I figured it was just an episode that needed time to go away, but Zach was insistent I get checked out. Zach took care of the front desk stuff and paperwork while Samantha was my interpreter. Out of the two she knows more sign and can pickup on the signs she doesn't know yet...usually. They ended up sending me to the ER.
At the ER they ran a battery of tests including a CAT scan. Mostly, they needed to rule out that I wasn't having a stroke. While being wheeled to the CAT scan room I felt my hands were getting stronger and by the time I got back to my room my speech was starting to come back. About a half hour later most of my symptoms were gone. By the time I went home I was back to normal.
So, what did I learn from this? Coffee is no longer an option anymore. I think Marcia would slap it out of my hand if she saw me even try to drink some.
I also think a certain gentleman learned not to claim he knew Sign when, in fact, he did not.
