OT - Need a few prayers for my wife please UPDATE

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 11:45 pm

The short version since I'm too tired to post all of it right now...

She's been to the ER 3 times since last Monday, admitted to the hospital Friday, released Saturday, readmitted Sunday after she passed out on me twice in a 5 minute span and I took her back. Migraine like symptoms so bad she could barely function.

MRIs on her head and neck were clear. Today they did an EEG, CAT scan of her sinus cavities, chest x-ray and heart ultra sound, no results back yet.

After all the neurological run around (long story) the two of us suspect it's a sinus infection from a couple of months ago she never really kicked and it's come back into her inner ear or is affecting the inner ear nerve.

What I don't understand is why the ENT she saw Tuesday didn't find it, why the ER docs never saw her white blood count was elevated (a nurse pointed it out to me and I put 2 and 2 together to arrive at an infection since I remember a bit of high school biology) and why even though the WBC was elevated she has not run any fever until today.

Regardless, she's naturally high strung and this has just about sent her over the edge. I tried yesterday to get them to give her a sedative but they wouldn't since they didn't want the EEG for today to be affected by it. They wouldn't give me a sedative either...

Thanks....

Tycer · Post by **Tycer** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 11:58 pm

Prayers sent.

Nancy likes the Gaia Herbs Adrenal Health. It works miracles for both of us when it comes to stress. Truly amazing. Nancy uses it as a daily supplement and I use it for acute bouts of jerkness.

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 12:06 am

Prayers up, Friend.......

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 12:10 am

Prayers headed out for her for sure.....

chipper · Post by **chipper** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 12:23 am

Prayers sent.Hope she gets well soon.

Hagler · Post by **Hagler** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 12:31 am

Done.

Shawn

bsaride · Post by **bsaride** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 12:35 am

Done!

Blessings to both of you

pwl44m · Post by **pwl44m** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 12:36 am

Prayers said. I am battling a Sinus infection right now. Been down for almost a week now. Had My round of antibiotics and think I am finally on the Mend. Hope they find out for sure what is wrong.

geobru · Post by **geobru** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 1:09 am

Prayers sent. Hope you find out what is going on.

.45colt · Post by **.45colt** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 1:52 am

Prayers Sent.

gamekeeper · Post by **gamekeeper** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 3:35 am

Prayers sent for a quick recovery.

firefuzz · Post by **firefuzz** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 5:45 am

I suffered with sinus problems for years until I had to have surgery, no fun at all. Prayers sent, hope she feels better and you both get some rest.

Rob

damienph · Post by **damienph** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:13 am

I hope they finally figure out what is wrong. Best wishes for the both of you.

Borregos · Post by **Borregos** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:36 am

Done, hang in there.

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:57 am

Prayers up. Keep after that sinus infection. If it gets to an inner ear infection, it can cause irreparable damage. I have a 28% loss & tinnitus in my left ear from an undiagnosed inner ear infection... well late diagnosis at any rate!

iceman · Post by **iceman** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 7:50 am

Done. Best of luck with this.

RKrodle · Post by **RKrodle** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 8:00 am

Prayers said, let me know if I can help.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 8:12 am

Absolutely! Prayers up right away. I've had a sinus infection that weakened me to the point I caught pneumonia. Landed in the hospital. No fun. I hope they figure this out soon, and more importantly, that she makes a full and fast recovery!

86er · Post by **86er** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 8:13 am

Ditto

Post by **Hobie** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 8:22 am

Prayers said.

Chas. · Post by **Chas.** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 8:27 am

Yep, prayers said. Speedy recovery to her.

fordwannabe · Post by **fordwannabe** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 8:28 am

Prayers up! on the private, nurses to God, line(kinda like a bat phone only better). Hope all turns out for her.Tom

2ndovc · Post by **2ndovc** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 8:29 am

Andrew,

Best wishes for your wife's speedy recovery!!!

jason

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 9:23 am

Thanks guys!

Last Monday she had a Dr appointment about the tinnitus and dizziness. She didn't tell me, but she also had a minor headache, nausea and blurred vision. As she told me later, she had all the symptoms she gets with a migraine EXCEPT for the crushing headache. She cancelled the appointment and went straight to the ER just down the road from our Doc. She didn't even tell me she was at the ER until she'd been there about an hour.

The ER Doc was thinking vertigo (my wife is prone to it and has been fighting it or something like it since late August) and set her up with an ENT. Tuesday the ENT said her inner ear was fine, set up an MRI of her head for Thursday and suggested seeing a neurologist.

Friday one of her co-workers called me and said they were driving her to the ER. I met her over there and she said now she had the crushing headache in addition to the previous symptoms. She was admitted to the hospital that evening, saw a neurologist (her head MRI was clear) and they started her on migraine and anti-dizziness/anti-nausea meds. When I got there Saturday morning a Doc was there and we talked for a few minutes. Her problems had let up a little and they were talking about releasing her after lunch. Less than 5 minutes after he left, the symptoms came back full force.

She was already worked up over feeling miserable for over a week, she was probably going to miss her trip to CO to see her oldest son graduate college (she was supposed to leave today) and now she was frustrated since nothing was helping and scared because they'd ordered an MRI of her neck. After the neck MRI came back clear they released her with "We can't find anything so all we can do is treat the symptoms". Not a fun day at all...

Sunday morning I had her going over her symptoms while I did some research with my friend Mr Google. Sitting on the couch she passed out for 10-20 seconds. I watched for any kind of seizure signs but there weren't any. When she came back she said she didn't feel right and laid down. Within a couple of minutes she passed out again for 10-20 seconds. When she came to again I told what had happened and she didn't believe me. Told her she was going back to the ER and she didn't want to go. The only choice I gave her was if she wanted to get there by ambulance or my truck. Luckily we got the same great ER nurse we had Friday. She was able to fill in the ER doc before seeing us so we didn't have to start back at square one.

They admitted her again and that's when things started to look up ever so slightly. A nurse was looking at her test results and pointed out the elevated WBC. I remember enough high school biology to immediately put 2 and 2 together. When I said "infection" the nurse nodded and my wife said maybe she'd never really kicked her sinus issue from a couple of months back. She thought her allergies were acting up about the time she finished her anti-biotics and never thought she wasn't over the sinusitus.

About that time her care nurse came in and we told her all of this. Miss India 1957 pretty much blew it off saying the WBC wasn't elevated that much and besides, my wife wasn't running a fever and the Doc would have to set up the culture to determine the anti-biotic needed if he decided it needed to be done. I let it go for the moment because I wanted her out of the room so I could continue talking to the other nurse.

After the first nurse was done and we'd discussed options I had my plan of attack. The hospital has an emergency line for when you think the docs/nurses aren't listening to you. I strolled down to the nurses station to see if I could get answers before dropping that hammer. There was another nurse or two there with the care nurse for my wife. I don't remember exactly what was said but I do remember telling them how the cow eats the cabbage. I remembered later I'd only had 2 smokes since 0800 so while I know I didn't rant and rave she might have sensed "I'm willing to rip your head off, ---- down your neck and not give it a second thought". Between that and the witnesses, when she came back to my wife's room about 10 minutes later she had a much better attitude and let us know she'd called the Doc to let him know about the counts.

The Doc still wouldn't run the tests that night because he wanted to run an EEG Monday (even though he told me he didn't expect to find anything) but as soon as the EEG, etc were done, he set up the bloodwork tests. As of last night we didn't have the results since their system had been down since early Monday morning. Sunday night the sinus cavities under her eyes were swollen and tender and she'd lost her voice.

When I got there last night, they'd given her hydrocodone and she'd started to run a low grade fever. I'm glad because that suggests we're getting closer to figuring this out since all of the neuro stuff to this point (minus the EEG and CAT scan from yesterday) has come back clear. Hopefully she can get started on an anti-biotic today.

I didn't get to spend much time there last night due to some other good news. Since she can't make the graduation ceremony, her oldest son and his wife are driving down tomorrow (he grauated in June and this was just the walk across the stage). He said they'd already taken the time off and he didn't care about the ceremony since he already had the diploma. I was sent away on a mission to get the house ready...

I haven't talked to her this morning yet. I'm hoping she was able to get another good night's sleep so I'll wait until she calls me.

I'll let you guys know what we find out.

Thanks again guys, y'all are the best!

kimwcook · Post by **kimwcook** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:08 am

Sorry to hear about your dilemma. Prayers for the wife, you and your family. Hopefully medical will get something going and you guys get some relief. That really sucks.

OldWin · Post by **OldWin** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:28 pm

Prayers sent for a quick recovery.

Post by **Hobie** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 7:32 pm

Prayers will continue...

olyinaz · Post by **olyinaz** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 9:15 pm

Terribly sorry to hear but you're doing the right thing by being proactive. Prayers up.

Oly

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 9:58 pm

Prayers up!

rjohns94 · Post by **rjohns94** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:06 pm

prayers up for sure.

TedH · Post by **TedH** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:29 pm

Keep us posted. Prayers up!

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:52 pm

Tonight's update:

The Doc finally conceded there may be a slight inner ear infection. He can't prove it by the test results (everything came back clear) but he couldn't shoot down my theory of just enough of an infection to affect her this way (she has all the symptoms) but not infected enough to be picked up by the MRI. If she never fully kicked the sinusitis of a few weeks ago, I can see this happening. He prescribed an antibiotic (azsomethingoranother, it's in the other room) and she started it this morning.

She's home now, sleeping off a hydrocodone. She got to feeling nauseous after eating a little soup and almost worked herself into a panic attack. The hydrocodone calms her down but I'm not crazy about that method. We're supposed to see our primary tomorrow and I'm going to address this with him.

Many thanks to all once again.

Noah Zark · Post by **Noah Zark** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:24 am

On the list . . .

Noah

Dave B · Post by **Dave B** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 2:43 pm

Prayer sent up for your wife. I hope for the best.

KirkD · Post by **KirkD** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 5:00 pm

Very sorry to hear about this. I will certainly pray. May God bring swift healing for your wife.

RIHMFIRE · Post by **RIHMFIRE** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 5:27 pm

Prayers Sent.

TravisM · Post by **TravisM** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:58 pm

Prayers sent.

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 11:19 am

It's been a couple of days, so I owe y'all another update and more thanks...

She ate a little yesterday and was able to sit up without instantly feeling like she was about to pass out or puke. The symptoms are about the same but at least they aren't getting any worse. It seems they run in waves. She'll feel slightly better then it hits her again but not near as bad as when she was in the hospital. I think part of it is she refuses to just sit still when she improves. The Boy helped get the house ready but she snuck around and did some cleaning as well. I'm beginning to think she's part mule.

Number One Son and his wife arrived last night and she felt like sitting up, talking, etc. She had me push her appointment with our family Doc back to this AM. She wanted to wait until they got there so they could take her instead of me missing more work. I'd forgotten DiL is an MA working on becoming an RN so she was able to run things past the Doc she works for and get ideas to discuss with our family Doc regarding what it could be and more effective meds (the anti-nausea doesn't seem to do much for her). Works out nicely IMO.

My work has been great about this. Not a bit of grief since I bailed mid-day Friday and twice Tuesday to get her home. I can't say that about the job I used to have. Just one more blessing to be thankful for.

Speaking of blessings, you folks are the best. I hope to put together a post between now and Christmas to let you folks know just how much of a positive influence y'all have been over the past few years on a borderline heathen....

Many thanks to all!

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:26 pm

Woohoo, we have an answer (almost)!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinthitis

This was one of the possibilities my DiL came up with as we discussed everything over the past few days. After about a half hour of going over her reports from the hospital, discussing everything with my wife and DiL, the Doc is 90% sure that's what we're dealing with in addition to ocular migraines. It's a rare condition but it's not life threatening, it's not permanent, it's just incredibly aggravating until it clears up (and scary until you get it diagnosed).

He's recommended an ENT that specializes in this kind of inner ear issue. Hopefully we can get that set up for this week.

1886 · Post by **1886** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 6:05 pm

Prayers for you and your family. Wish I got back to you sooner. God Bless, 1886.

Nath · Post by **Nath** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 6:31 pm

I am allways late on these posts

Prayes up friend.

I am mighty impressed with your fighting for your wife, cool

If the good lady is stressed I can highly recomend Avena sativa (extract of green oat) very calming with no side effects. We use it alot.

Best wishes and please give her a hug from me

Nath.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 7:26 pm

Prayers sent !

May God bring peace to you all.

Tycer · Post by **Tycer** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 11:09 pm

Bacteria, virus and fungi cannot live in an alkaline environment and dislike neutral. Unfortunately most of our diets leave us in an acidic state. It's an easy thing to fix quickly, but harder to do long-term.

The fastest way for me to fix it is a fairly strong lemonade with lots of concentrate. Nancy can drink vinegar to fix it, but that makes me nearly puke.

There's a whole host of foods that you can eliminate and add to change the balance and there are test strips at the health food store you can test your saliva and pee.

If y'all are interested, do a google search for "acid alkaline balance".

Here's a pair of charts that's pretty good:

http://www.greathealth247.com/ph-acid-a ... chart.html

fordwannabe · Post by **fordwannabe** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 11:38 am

Prayers still going out.Tom