It's slightly less than flattering. It is, however, an accurate representation of what I would look like as a human-elephant hybrid. Let's rewind a bit, shall we?
That's better. On Saturday, July 5, my daughters and I were all ready to go to a Zumba class with my bestie and her two daughters.
We were late. I wasn't all that upset. I didn't really want to go anyway, but I was willing to try. I thought I was getting a migraine, I felt kinda dizzy (I get vestibular migraines) and I had a weird feeling on my left like something was crawling under my skin. I was on vacation, so I decided to power through it and we took the girls to the swimming pool.
I felt slightly better after a bottle of Coke and some time playing mermaids with my youngest, and I took the girls to see my Mom after swimming. The plan had been for my bestie and I to go out dancing and drinking that night. I was still not feeling really hot and we just weren't really feeling like going out, so we went to dinner, bought a couple bottles of Skinny Girl white cranberry cosmopolitans and went back to her place to watch Orange is the New Black.
I remember having that crawly sensation in my left hand and some heaviness in my left leg. I thought it was part of the migraine I never got that afternoon. I also remember feeling completely exhausted. I think we made it through one episode and then I had to go to bed. I know now that that heaviness and crawliness was the first symptoms of my stroke.
The next morning, I felt better.. I was still kinda tired, but I drove to my Mom's and we all went to lunch with my brother and his family. At one point, during lunch, I tried to hand my Mom a plate with my left hand and couldn't hardly hold it. As the day wore on, my left side became more immobile. I spent the night with my Mom, on her guest bed.
I woke up feeling even worse. My Grandma came into town that morning and then I asked my Mom to take me to Urgent Care. I spent several hours there and then got diagnosed with a UTI. I thought it was strange, but I didn't have any other symptoms of a stroke, I didn't seem really out of it and had no cognitive or speech impairments.
I went home and slept at my Mom's again. I took the third dose of antibiotic and didn't feel much better--I actually felt worse. Mom called Urgent Care and they said my culture was negative. They told us to go to the ER. Mom took me in and they ordered an MRI almost immediately.
The rest, they say, is history.
This is me now:
In the interest of full disclosure, sometimes this is me:
I don't always look all bad-ass, terminator-style. Styling your hair one-handed isn't as easy or as enjoyable as you might think. I'm still figuring this shit out.
I want to make sure I get the story written down. I don't have any trauma-induced amnesia or anything about the event, but time tends to lend itself toward forgetfulness. I'm largely OK with that. But, someday I'll want to remember, just so I can look back at how far I've come. I've come far, but I have farther to go.
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