Day 11- Tuesday Ends With Empiric Evidence!!!

Monday (last) night. Neurologist came yesterday around 6 PM. Nice guy. Marci says he is very cute. See- I told you she is feeling better. He seems to understand that we want evidence of some root cause where we have had none to date. He says he would like to do an MRI. He says that he does not know if it will be covered by insurance so soon after the one less than a week ago. I tell him that I do not really care if they charge us full cost. MRI is on the list. EEG as well. We’ll see what we see there and decide where to go. I do not care if they show nothing and we have to check with a psychiatrist/psychologist. Just want something/anything as we have nothing to date.

I leave Marci around 7:30 PM last night to go home and rest well. The cot will not do it for me and I am not close enough to Marci’s bed for her to kick me if- actually when- I snore. Kira is waiting with I-ya and pa-pa when I get home. She is in great spirits. I think she is getting chubbier cheeks from their spoiling. Lots of rice, beans, and tortillas as when they ask her what she wants to eat, she says- beans. And she gets what she wants most of the time. Although last night it was green beans and fried okra with a little bit of shrimp. She loves green beans and has recently really started liking the okra.
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Tuesday morning. Got on the road at 6 AM to beat the rush to South Austin from Georgetwon. Some work for me in the hospital lobby where the wireless is at and Marci calls me when she wakes up at 8.

Up to the room to find a smiling face who just wants to go home. Marci feels good today. Long MRI last night. My mom says they are claustrophobic. Marci said it was a nice rest except for when they turned it up really high. Said she could feel the waves in her chest. No results yet…

Lunchtime. I wish I could share the picture of Marci with all the wires connected to her head for the EEG. Neurologist (Dr. McDreamy is apparently his nickname Marci is told) will still need to review but was nice enough to have the EEG tech get us first in line and requested the results straight away so we can get out of here. If we can get out of here.

3 PM. EEG results are in. Marci has some intermittent low scores on one side of her brain. Finally a test that says that something is going on!! He says that this result would be consistent with what happens when the brain experiences inflammation (like form Encephalitis) and some of its after effects. Actually less than half the normal score when the abnormalities are encountered. Nothing to suggest that she might experience seizures (knock wood). And we know that the barin is a wonderful organ that compensates and rewires itself over time if necessary. This is great news. MRI looks just fine. Finally- something that tells us we have been on the right track. We extrapolate that a migraine Sunday may have led to her acting coo-coo after. And we find out that the Topmax that Marci thought was a medicine to help with a migraine in progress was actually meant as a daily medicine and preventative. Guess she did not read the bottle before dumping those pills into the plastic baggie that Kira ate from. “I wondered why they gave me so many pills.” She says.

4PM. We can leave. But on hospital time. Waiting for the internal medicine doctor to release us. Then the long ride home. It’s raining. Love the rain, but not during rush hour and not during a ride through downtown Austin with same. But… We are on hospital time and I will consider myself lucky if we get out of here three hours from now so maybe the rain and traffic will be gone. At least we are getting out.

Marci will go with my folks and Kira to their house tomorrow morning. I will miss them both, but this will give her a place to rest and not be tempted to take care of all things domestic which she does so well for our wonderful family. Hopefully, there will be plenty of time for that.

Time to wax philosophic….

This whole ordeal has made us closer and really made me appreciate what Marci does for Kira and I and all of the peripheral people inside and outside the family that she encounters. We have been having a renaissance in our relationship over the past year or so and we are encouraged by the fact that we can deal with this kind of thing together. Family and friends have been wonderful. I did not list co-workers as a separate line item in the last sentence as my co-workers fit into both categories. The outpouring of direct and indirect support has been heartening to say the least. So many people let us know that if there was something, anything that they could do… And I know that there were a ton of other people who would have said the same thing and were respectful of my early on wishes to defer discussions about what was going on until later.

Both sides of the direct family have been outstanding as well. And what a trooper little miss Kira is.