My Scariest Experience - TIA

One week ago last Sunday night around 9:45pm Chris and I were sitting on the couch trying to decide which movie to watch On Demand when I got a weird tingling feeling in my left arm. I turned to Chris and said, "I feel really weird..." and in the next 3 seconds or so the entire left side of my body became numb and paralyzed. I told Chris, "I think I'm having a stroke" The words came out a slurry mess, and I could feel my face was completely numb and drooping (later Chris told me my face looked like it was melting on the left side). Chris grabbed the phone and called 911 as I sat slumped on the couch just looking at Camden sleeping peacefully beside me. Clear headed, I was trapped in this foreign body for about a minute and a half. I used to work as a medical assistant in a cardiology office so I know stroke symptoms inside and out, and also their lasting effects. In that minute or two, I thought I was going to either die, or never be the same. I really did. It was the absolute worst 2 minutes of my life as I tried telling Chris as best I could that I loved him and the kids.

My speech was the first thing to return, and the paramedics arrived not even 5 minutes after the initial call. My sensation began to improve over the following 20 minutes or so as the paramedics checked me out, but I remained incredibly weak on my left side and I was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Long story short, after a huge series of testing over 4 days in the hospital, and another episode exactly like the one above the next evening as a new nurse was flushing my IV, it was determined I had a TIA (transient ischemic attack) or otherwise known as a "mini stroke". This was caused by a blood clot that formed due to me starting birth control pills approximately 10 days prior, and a Pulmonary AVM gave that clot a route to my brain.

 

I will have to travel down to the University of Washington Medical Center in the coming months to fix my AVM, and take medicine in the meantime to prevent other clots from forming. Needless to say, my anxiety is through the roof as I am terrified this is going to happen again. I am so incredibly blessed it struck as I was simply sitting on the couch, and not driving my babies.
I am still pretty weak in my left arm but it seems to be improving daily. Talk about a wake up call to live everyday to the fullest and love those around you like there's no tomorrow! So scary. I debated whether to share my experience, but thought what the heck...maybe someone out there would have a similar experience and not feel so alone. To boot, this also complicates things as we always planned to transfer our last frozen embryo at some point, but its looking like that can't happen now. I'm sure we will find out further over the coming months, and speaking with PNW Fertility.

Ok moving on and well...moving OUT! Tonight is the last night in our house. So sad, but so ready. We found a fantastic rental for the next year or two while we build a house! We are so excited for this next chapter, and ready for a fresh start.

In other huge news, look at this big boy!!! He weighs 17 lbs and rolled over today from his tummy to his back!

Wish me luck as we move this week - I'm really looking forward to life slowing down. I like it better when my lack of blog posts means that life is just kind of boring, rather than life being too crazy!