Sunday, November 20, 2011

Return of the B-Cell Seven

I'm punning badly on a John Sayles film title there.. ignore it.

So in mid-October, on a drive to Phx from the Yuma hinterlands, I found myself getting dizzy, twitchy.... like a mini-relapse was slamming into me with a ton of different manifestations. I knew I was kind of in trouble in a small town about 90 miles from Phx, when my vision felt a little weird... a bit dizzy.. and my right side twitching and leaping forward as I drove. But the meeting I needed to go to was state-paid one, dept of Education, and I was as far from hm as from the hotel, so I kept going.

A spectacular lightning storm hit as I got on I-10, and wow...I got into the HOV lane ASAP so if I hit anything it would be most likely the highway cement divider. And a pretty 2012 Ford I was driving too.

So I decided to go to the St Joe's ER, which was interesting... long story short, I was admitted after about 12 hours, MRId, not medicated (thank you ER neurologist ya bastid ya), then let go the next evening or... maybe the one after that? I got Bkfast and Lunch out of it. And a snack.

So WTF? Now the main issue is severe spasms in my shoulders and nerve pain there too... after a lot of relaxing, my brain calmed enough to go to the mtg (not the hotel, which gave my room out) with clonazepam scrip, methocarbomal scrip, and later a gabapentin scrip. Turns out taking all three... the clonazepam would give me a MASSIVE, painful headache/ nerve twinging so bad I once slammed 2 beers to stop the pain. Well, it worked. No more alcohol, though.

Still on the Gaba and Metho, but it's hard to get the timing down so that the muscles in my shoulders stay relaxed and calm. Some eye twitches remain, but I can still Zumba and sound only moderately like a moron when I speak. The aphasic moments REALLY piss me off.

Well, it's kinda been waiting to happen, the Return of the B-Cells, and I know I already have damage to my brain-- lesions too big and bright and old to not have that, but I am a little nervous and scared, even though sure, I'll start Avonex if I must. Clinical trial for me is just about over-- just monitoring blood until B-cells return to 2009 levels. FUN.