2017 - Part 2

I lay on the table where they were taking my CT scan. Now, you might ask yourself “why doesn't she just do an MRI?” well, that's because this hospital doesn’t do MRIs. That's how small the hospital was. When they were done I got up and returned to my waiting area, where both my mom and my dad were waiting for me. After about 30 minutes the doctor came in and she did not have a good look on her face. “We need to get you to another hospital,” she said. Like a real, real hospital I guessed. I still didn't know what was wrong with me, but they said I could have a tumor or a bleed. I really started shitting my pants now. The next thing I know a helicopter is landing. Now, I get car sick, so you can imagine how I was in this helicopter. And they put me on Valium - that was a fun drug.

Next, we landed in Flagstaff, at Flagstaff Regional Hospital. Now, I probably waited 10 hours to get an MRI, even though it was a “high-level emergency”. After I got the MRI a doctor came in and said “I don't know why they sent you here, you need to go down to Phoenix.” Knock two hospitals off the list. Do you want to know how we got to Phoenix? An ambulance. So, they must not be too concerned. As we made it down the windy I-17, the thought that kept running through my mind was if I die what would happen to my dog?

Northern Arizona has shitty hospitals. I wouldn't recommend anyone to go anywhere north of Phoenix. Barrow's Neurological Institute took me off the ambulance and right into an angiogram. “An angiogram is a scan that shows blood flow through arteries or veins, or through the heart, using X-rays, computed tomography angiography (CTA), or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). The blood vessels appear on the image after a contrast dye is injected into the blood, which lights up on the scan wherever it flows.” It was amazing how they all worked so quickly and rushed, yet calm and poised at the same time. First I was put to sleep, then it was injected into my groin. I have no idea how they can get that from your groin to your brain, but they did, I guess. Dr. Ducret was my angiogram specialist. He was kind and beyond smart.

This is where I found out that I have an Arteriovenous Malformation. Only about 18 in 100,000 people have them. It's a cluster of arteries and veins that get tangled up. They don't really know how they start, they assume they start in the fetus. Mine had three brain aneurysms. I didn't even really know that brain aneurysms were a thing, I know that's pretty crappy of me. But I had three of them.

I stayed in the hospital for 3 or 4 days before making my way back up to Sedona. I probably got about 98% of my ability to use my right side back. They said it was a minor leak and to just chill. It's in my Thalamus. Now, where the heck is that? “The thalamus is composed of different nuclei that each serve a unique role, ranging from relaying sensory and motor signals, as well as regulation of consciousness and alertness.” So, it's in the middle of your brain and they didn't want to go near it. I didn't really know what that meant? But I continued living life.

The past four years I went by living life.