Thursday, September 24, 2009

Headache update

Today we had a busy day.
(not that you care about every detail of our day, but it feels good to just spit it all out!)
:)

Joshua went off to school.
I taught Angela school while trying to keep Jeremy busy. (he's doing a lot better these days. I put him in his room for about 30 minutes so he can play and read books. He usually does well, today we ended up with a book with all the pages torn out).
Mid morning we took my Grandma with us to the park. We have a bunch of friends that get together every Thursday. It's great for the kiddos to play together and it's great for the Mama's to have time to talk and encourage each other.
Then we hurried off to pick Joshua up from school.
Ran home and settled Grandma into her house.
Scooped Jeremy up and settled him into his bed for a short nap.
I laid down to rest my eyes.
1/2 hour later we were back up and running.
The kids all went with my Mom to the park so I could go to the Lab and have some blood drawn for tests.
Then I came home, looked longingly at the bed to take a nap. But I knew if I dozed off now it would make me feel miserable.
Dinner came and went.
The older two kids and Andrew went off to hear an orchestra play.
I changed a couple beds, made piles of laundry, put Jeremy to bed...
And now am relaxing!
Whew.
_____________________________________


Here's an update on what I'm doing next to figure these headaches out:



Next Monday I am doing a procedure called: Radionuclide Cisternogram

Definition

It is a nuclear scan test used to diagnose spinal fluid circulation problems.

How the test is performed

A lumbar puncture (spinal tap) is done first. Small amounts of radioactive material, called a radioisotope, are injected into the fluid in the lower spine.

I will be scanned 4 - 6 hours after receiving this injection. A special camera creates images that show how the radioactive materials travel with the spinal fluid through the spine and if the fluid leaks outside the spine.

I will be scanned again 24 hours after injection, and possibly at 48 and 72 hours after injection.

This test will tell us if I have a spinal leak somewhere, or not.
If I do, then we'll be able to fix it.
If I don't then we will fly back to the Mayo Clinic for the next step.

I've heard that this procedure can be very painful.
The blood patch that I just went through was more painful and took longer to recover than I had anticipated.
Please pray for endurance and courage through this.

(9/28-30/09).

7 comments:

Liz said...

Jenn- I'm praying. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help out.
Liz

Betty Smith said...

Jenn, you are in my prayers daily.

Laurie said...

I love hearing about your day!

Will be praying for you...that doesnt' sound very pleasant, but I'm sure will all be worth it if you get answers.

You are doing a great job mothering and teaching and wifing through all of this! :)

Rebekah Hubley said...

praying, praying, praying for you!!! I also pray that they find something conclusive!!! It is so hard when you know something is wrong, and science/medicine cannot see it! I second Laurie, you are amazing and not dropping any balls throughout this ordeal!

candice said...

Jenn,
I will be praying for you as you go through this tomorrow. It has been a long road for you and I really pray that there will be some answers at the end of this. I know exactly the pain from that blood patch- for me it was far worse than any of the first headaches I had ever had.
You are an amazing woman and I pray you would continue to find strength in Him. I would love to be able to bring your family a meal this week- let me know if that would work!

Michelle Krueger said...

Jenn- Praying for you and your procedure today. We missed you guys at the homeschool park night last night. Love- Michelle

Anonymous said...

Jenn,
Have you tried food combining?....
Sharon Edwards
sharoded@hotmail.com