When Dr. Kay came to give me the spinal tap, told me to roll on my side, and then he administered some local anesthesia. Then he started inserting the big needle...and it felt SO WEIRD! I could feel it chunking through all of the different layers. I did not like the feeling at all, and sadly, I started crying and screaming and yelling, "Don't do it! I changed my mind! Don't do it! Take it out!" The nurse was holding me down. I was sobbing...which is lame cause I know it was a routine thing, a lumbar puncture. The hospital people thought it was no big deal, and I guess it wasn't. The doctor asked if I wanted more anesthesia and I said, "Yes, I need a lot more than it looks like because I am very muscular..." I thought it was funny but I don't think he thought so. Anyway, after he gave me more, he tried the procedure again and it was fine. So, I guess I did need more. My friend Kelly offered to be there with me during the procedure and I told her not to, because I thought I would prefer to do it myself. But when the procedure was actually happening, I wished that somebody would have been there. The nurse was holding me down and holding my hand at the same time, and every time she walked away to help the doctor, I was like, "No, please don't leave me here."
Later, my friends Kelly, Maria and Gail came to visit and it was so nice of them. They brought flowers and magazines and whole bag of sandwiches and drinks and chips. But, I think it tired me too much to sit there and talk to them for 2 hours, because by the time Matt got there at 8 o clock at night, I was so tired and my head hurt and I basically had a tantrum about him not getting there sooner. He brought me chocolates and I had to restrain myself from throwing them at the wall.
My worst fears about my roommate in the hospital came true...I was sharing a room with an old woman, who only caught glimpses of through the sheet that separated us, but I could hear her groaning and whimpering almost non stop. She had been there for 2 months and I think she will probably be there till she dies. She did NOT look good and she required a lot of attention. She had visitors non stop, which is to be expected given her condition, but it sucked for me. Her visitors felt very comfortable there, since she had been there for 2 months, and they were microphone very strong smelling Chinese food, listening to the TV on a Cantonese channel very loudly, and jabbering away non stop. There must have been at least 5 visitor there at all times, usually women. Only someone that has lived in Hong Kong or around large numbers of Chinese speaking people can understand what it is like to hear high pitched, LOUD, Cantonese speaking when you have a headache. Cantonese people generally speak very loudly, and the tones of the language can be less than melodic, and women (especially old women) are very, um, intense. Plus, they didn't know how to work all the buttons and nobs in the hospital so they kept turning on and off my lights and the TV. Plus, they stared at me every time they walked by my bed. Her in Hong Kong, it isn't really considered to be rude to stare at someone. Maybe they were staring to see who was yelling and sobbing during a minor lumbar puncture! Haha! They stayed all night and then turned on those bright fluorescent lights on my side of the room so I basically got no sleep, even with the sleeping pill. I do feel bad for the woman that seemed to be dying. It made me wonder what is the point of struggling to keep her alive. She seemed to be in so much pain. Plus, I felt bad for her with all of those squawking, screeching women around her all the time. It was probably a comfort to have her family though. I feel bad complaining about them when they are in such a bad situation.
Anyway, I am back, and thanks for everyone's nice emails. Oh, the doctor had some preliminary tests done on the CSF (fluid from my spinal chord) and there is no sign of infection. Now we have to wait three weeks for further tests to be done. They are going to test for multiple sclerosis, HIV, syphilis, tuberculosis, and many other things. They have to send the CSF back to the US and that is why it takes so long! I am pretty sure I can rule out the HIV and syphilis from my list of "worries" and the doctor told me something else positive: He had a patient that showed signs of MS on their MRI and the test of the CSF showed that they probably did not have MS. It is a slim chance, but I am a positive thinker! I feel so good, it is hard to imagine that anything serious is wrong with me. I have been under a lot of stress, and I think that the effects of stress cannot be underestimated. Yes, yes, I know that stress can trigger and MS "flare up". But...I have faith that everything is going to be OK.
See, I look healthy, right?
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