Thursday, October 13, 2005

ball rolling, wheel turning - first stop

"Life consists not in holding good cards, but in playing those you hold well" ~Josh Billings

I think I've used that quote before.. I sure hope I know how to play those I hold -well- when the time comes to play them. Timing is possibly everything. I keep telling myself to breathe, listen, relax, wait...

Everything is an opportunity to use my camera these days. There are quite a few casual passing conversations that happen because of that, too. Leaving Kaiser, I snapped off several shots of the snapdragons which were planted everywhere and several people commented about how pretty the flowers looked.


The snapdragons were in several beds in various places on the medical complex. Some of the buildings are in the pic below.


Wednesday was filled with lots of tests, though not an MRI- that's ordered along with several others. The neurologist was convinced before she saw me that I was there for a headache, though I've lived with those all my life. She spent much of our time asking about headaches and family history of diabetes and not much on listening to or asking about anything else. She did various reflexes, sensation, balance and coordination tests which uncovered a bit of loss of sensation in my feet and ankles that I didn't know about previously.

The bottom line as far as the neurologist is concerned, is that she thinks I had a small stroke (she didn't name the area, but said it was a back portion of my brain which would be the occipital lobe), and possibly have some diabetic damage to nerves (like the feet and eyes), even though I don't have diabetes. !!!???!!! I don't understand at all how that is possible. I also don't understand how a small stroke in the occipital lobe could result in intermittent eye problems. But she did say she will wait to be more definitive until she has the results of the various tests she ordered and the MRI.

I see my own doc in a while and have lots of questions. He tolerates them much better and generally doesn't let me know if he's made up his mind about something before I get a chance to speak. We are collaborative about my health, not him being directive, and he understands my level of medical knowledge and actually listens.

Breathe, listen, relax, wait... can't "play the cards well, any other way.

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