I really don't even know where to begin... This past week has been one of the scariest, most emotional of my whole life. It's hard to explain the feeling of watching the one you love question everything and wonder if his life would ever be the same again.
Last Saturday, April 4th Matt woke up around 5 and noticed that his left arm was asleep. He had figured that he had just slept funny but then quickly realised he was sleeping on his back and that his left leg was also numb. He then tried to grab his phone to check the time and quickly realised he had no function in his left hand. He was of course very worried so he stumbled to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and saw that his whole left side of his face was also numb and that it appeared to be drooping. Of course at this point he was terrified he started to google his symptoms, which only made things worse. He said he then tried to talk to our Dog Dre and he said he knew what he wanted to say but all that would come out were mumbles. THEN he decided to wake me up. I remember not even being able to comprehend what he was saying to me.. He was 27 years old and healthy could he possibly be having a stroke?! I got dressed as quickly as I could woke up Lane and we rushed to Pincher Emerge.
He was able to walk on his left leg and said he was started to get his feeling back. We walked up to the emergency entrance and I looked over and realised Matt had veered off and was trying to walk into the ambulance entrance. I called out for him and did re correct and come through the right door but |I could tell he was very disoriented.We got emitted very quickly and the nurse started to run lots of different tests, did some blood work and we had a doctor with us very quickly. Nothing was showing up but the doctor was still very concerned with his symptoms and she called Lethbridge and they decided to send him by ambulance to the Lethbridge Hospital for a CT scan.
That drive to Lethbridge, with my baby in the back seat just hoping and praying that Matt was going to be okay was one of the hardest and longest drives of my life. There were many tears and panic attacks along the way but somehow \I managed to get us there safely! When I got to the hospital my parents and Matt's dad and step mom were there with my sweet heart waiting for the results from his CT. By this time all of his feeling was back and he was feeling good other than a headache, but he had been experiencing head aches all week.
The doctor came out to tell us that his CT scan came back clean. There was nothing irregular that they could see from the CT. Of course we were all soo relieved. We went into the room and looked at the scans. The doctor then told us Matt was Fine and that we could just go home. So we decided to go out for breakfast to celebrate. As we were at breakfast I couldn't help but feel very unsettled. I didn't feel right just letting something like this go? I felt like we really had no answers what so ever and I was terrified it might happen again.
We talked to our families and we all decided that Matt should get in to see the doctor on Monday and try to get some answers. Matt's family doctor was out of town so we saw a doctor around 4:30 on Monday. We explained everything that was going on and she agreed that we needed to do some further testings, and get him in for an MRI. She told us that first thing Tuesday morning she would send out an urgent request to a neurologist so we could get him in as soon as possible to find out what was going on. She told us that Matt should not be working or driving until we had clearance from a neurologist. She told us to come in the next day to get a bunch of blood work done. We went home feeling confident that we were in the right hands and that everything was going to get taken care of.We went in the next day and Matt got his blood work done. two days went by and we never heard anything from a neurologist or the clinic about any appointment date.
We were trying to be patient so I didn't call to bug them. Thursday morning Matt woke me up at 4:30 it was happening again so we quickly got packed up and went to emerge again. They ran the tests and still nothing was showing up. The doctor called Lethbridge and they told us there was nothing they could do? We explained our situation to the Doctor and that we were on an urgent request to see a neurologist and the doctor told us she would make sure that was being taken care of and that she was also going to get Matt on a cancellation list for an MRI. She told us that the clinic would call us first thing the next morning to follow up. So we went home and tried to get some sleep.
The clinic called and told us that nothing had been done regarding Matt seeing a neurologist the doctor never did send and urgent referral?! (are you kidding me) so that was 2 full days waisted! we weren't even on the neurologists radar. Then she told us she would make sure to send it off and that she would get him booked for an MRI and on a cancellation list and let us know. We went in and got Matt's x ray done to make sure he didn't have any metal in his eye so that he could get an MRI (he used to do welding) and then we went home.
We still hadn't heard anything from a neurologist or the clinic regarding even a date for anything so at 1 o clock on Friday i called up to the clinic again. The unit clerk I talked to told me that yes the referral had been sent to the neurologist but that nobody had followed up on it. So she told me she would for me before the end of the day. I then asked about the MRI she told me she couldn't find anything about an MRI?! (seriously?!?) but she promised me she would get him on the cancellation list and work on getting him an appointment she told me she would make sure to call me by the end of the day to let me know the progress.. She NEVER called me.
For any of you that really know me, it takes a LOT to make me mad. I am furious! we feel like nobody is taking this seriously and that nobody is taking responsibility for this. We keep being told things are urgent and are going to get done but they continue to not get done.
Friday night we drove up to High River to Matt's moms house, we stayed the night and Matt went into Calgary emerge Saturday morning. It took all day but he was able to see the proper people and to properly be taken care of. They did a contrast CT and still nothing is showing up. We talked with the neurologist and he is very confident that Matt is going to be just fine. He cannot say what is wrong but he is more than confident that Matt can go back to work and that he can drive. We were both very happy with this news and so happy that they were able to do the contrast CT to rule out some very scary things that this could have been! The Neurologist still wants Matt to get an MRI to make sure its not something the CT's missed. Unfortunately we may never know what went on. And hopefully it goes away. I honestly don't like those answers but if that's coming from a specialist there is nothing more we can do about it at this point. So now we wait until Matt can get in for an MRI and we hope that nothing is wrong!
My 25th birthday did not go as planned but I told Matt the best birthday present he could give me was to sit in the Foothills ER and get some answers, so after the full day in emerge we all went out to celebrate my birthday at the Keg. The best birthday present I received was hearing the neurologist say he could rule out aneurysm, stroke, cancer, bleeding etc. And that he was fairly certain Matt would be just fine. And that everything possible right now had been done. This meant our world was not going to get turned upside down and that my sweet heart could get back to doing what he loves.
Thank you so much to all of you for your prayers, thoughts, and kind words I did truly feel them and appreciated them so much! I will keep you updated with further news as we know but for now we are just so relieved and trying to enjoy this great news!! xoxo Ashylla
