Part 3... Salt Lake City here I come

Part three… I am almost done with the majority of my story now.  Bear with me.  Okay so let’s go back to Bozeman hospital for a few moments. As I was lying in bed I tried to be as optimistic as possible.  I knew God had a hand over me, and was in full control.  The first question I asked after receiving a probable diagnosis was “can I have children in the future?” Yes, I know I am years away from childbirth but having kids is important to me and I was hoping that this condition wouldn’t affect my ability to have kids.  I was informed that my life was going to change forever and I remember thinking, no more just getting by.  I want to be the best person I can be.  God’s hand and feet, he has allowed me to survive and I am going to make the best out of my future. 

Ok back to the airplane ride, once in the airplane I was asked to tell my story to the people riding along in the plane with me. They had never had a patient who was awake or could talk before.  That’s when I knew it was serious. They asked me about my life and all about school.  It was nice they didn’t pry or ask medical questions, they generally cared about me and where I was headed in life.

Once we landed at the airport, I was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the Salt Lake University hospital. I forgot to mention this before, but my dad had called my Grandma and Grandpa Rose and they beat me to the hospital, also our good friend and nurse Jane was at the ER before I arrived.  As soon as I arrived at the ER they had planned on doing open heart surgery and replacing my mitro valve with a pigs valve.  I got to the ER and was happy to see friendly faces and get hugs from people I love.  They had to stop all food and drink by mouth in case I would end up having open heart surgery, but I was so thirsty I could tell I was going to start being affected by lack of water.  My grandpa held the door while grandma gave me some ice chips. J

An ER doctor came in and quizzed me about all my medical history, and after I explained how I was feeling etc. she asked if I was sure these were not bad migraines.  I thought my mother was going to come unglued.  We simply told her we had crossed that bridge a long time ago.  They decided to not do open heart surgery right away because I looked so “plump and happy”.  

For those of you unfamiliar with Salt Lake Hospital there is a children’s hospital right next to the University hospital. I was 17 and a half when I was airlifted so they decided to start treating me like an adult.  Secretively, I wanted to be in the children’s hospital, it was around Christmas time and Santa visited on a regular basis at the Children’s Hospital.  But they stuck me in the grown up one, and on top of that they put me in the head trauma unit.  I will let your imagination travel for a moment…. I was the youngest patient by 35 maybe even 40 years. Stroke patents, brain trauma, and brain tumors and then there was me and at that moment they didn’t think I was having strokes so I didn’t really fit in.

More later… Details on my rough stay in SLC and then my 6 month recovery back to my “normal”.

Part 2-My story

After realizing that I was having a stroke, I text my parents who happened to be outside the car fixing the flat tire.  As soon as they came over we called my neurologist in Helena and she said to go straight to the ER in Bozeman (as many of you know I can be stubborn). So, when we got to the hospital I refused to put on a gown because I was convinced that I wasn't sick. When we checked into the hospital they ran some more MRI's and then knocked me out for a few hours. Once I woke, they decided to do a spinal tap which would help them rule out a few odd things and they wanted to save some spinal fluid in case I  would need it in the future.

I am not sure if you have had a spinal tap or seen one, but it was scary.  They stick a large needle in a sac in your back and tell you if you move, you might be paralyzed. I was laying on my stomach and right in front of me was a screen. I watched the whole thing.  After testing my fluid, they ruled out MS and a few other conditions.  Dr. Josh Knappenburger happened to be touring the hospital and he would become the new neurologist in Bozeman.  They called  and asked him if he would come take a look at me and see if he had any ideas. He walked in and the first thing he asked me is if he could see my feet.  Right away he noticed all the blood clots in my toes, feet, fingernails and hands. After that he began to question me on my life style (my condition is often seen in IV drug users, so I had to get all the drinking and drug questions out of the way).  At that point in my life, I had only had one or two drinks and smoked one cigarette so we ruled out the condition due to IV drug use. 

He looked me over and asked me a few more questions and then told me to sleep while he went out and made a phone call. As soon as my dad arrived at the hospital he took my parents outside and told them that I needed to head to Salt Lake.  My dad said no problem I will head home and shower and we can be on our way.  Doctor Knappenburger said, "I don't think you understand, I ordered an air flight for her".  They came in and told me that a plane would be arriving soon to take me to Salt Lake and that my mom would be riding with me and my dad would wait until I made it there alive before he came. 

I was frightened to say the least!  The ambulance came and took me to the airport at around 8 pm that night.  After noon they had cut me off from all food and liquids because they first thing planned when I arrived in Salt Lake was open heart surgery. After saying good bye to my dad and being loaded into the plane on a stretcher, we got the oxygen hooked up and took off.  Riding in the plane was a nurse, EMT,  pilot and my mom.  I was a stroke patient so every 10 minutes we did a stroke test, and they flight lasted under and hour. 

To be continued...