Heading Home

I knew last night that something was “off”. My head felt heavy like there was an extreme amount of pressure beneath my skull. My balance is wrong. When I go to reach for something it feels like my hand is not my own, it doesn’t follow commands properly. My head was pounding all night long, pain medication didn’t touch it; it was a weird and awful sensation. Something is wrong, and I don’t know what it is, I just know something is wrong.

Mike left for the airport at 4:45am and I stayed in bed, not moving, hoping that the throbbing would pass and my balance would restore itself. I slept. When I awoke at 10:30 (9:30 back in Tri-Cities) I called the doctor. Dr. Giever and I discussed last week that coming off the steroids might cause some issues, and if I felt I needed to take them, I should call and discuss it with him. So I talked to the nurse and let her know what was going on...the pain medication wasn’t touching the pain, my balance is off on my right side, my head is throbbing. She talked to Dr. Giever and he agreed that I should take a steroid this morning and tonight and if I don’t see an improvement by tomorrow, a trip to the ER is in order.

I don’t want a trip to the ER. I want to feel okay. Mike is concerned that I am just exhausted from the travel and the weekend; and he is probably not far off base. So I took my steroids, and have been lying on the couch all day. The throbbing is getting better, but my head still feels heavy and foggy, and my balance is still off. I am very careful walking. I am scared that the symptoms are back, and what that means. I was pretty confident that the tumors were gone, but now, I’m not quite so sure. My mouth is tender and I have sores on the sides of my tongue and the inside of my cheeks. My brain feels like it is in a thick fog. As I look at this writing, I have to correct words that I have typed incorrectly, where my brain and my fingers didn’t communicate properly. So I rest and I wait. I pray for the symptoms to clear. I pray that everything will clear up.

I changed my flight to tomorrow afternoon and made an appointment with Dr. Giever on Wednesday. I’d rather be safe than sorry and if I get worse, I’d rather be home than 1000 miles away. I’m sorry that I’m leaving and cutting the trip short; I was looking forward to spending the time relaxing with my brother and sister-in-law but I want to have my care by my local physician, not a physician who doesn’t know my history.

I’ll keep you posted on my status, pray for the symptoms to clear up sooner rather than later. I hope I wasted the change fee and feel right as rain in no time at all!