More Firsts

A couple entries ago I wrote about some firsts that I had just experienced, and since that entry I have experienced some more firsts.

*First time to be sick in this country. First time to miss school. First time to be in the hospital. Last Wednesday I started feeling dizzy off and on. It got worse on Thursday and I ended up leaving school early to go home and rest. When it did not get better, the school nurse who is my friend decided I needed to go to the ER to get checked out. (My arm was feeling numb too, so that added with dizziness that persisted for a whole day was a cause for concern that it could be something serious.) The doctors were perplexed as to what could be wrong with me because I felt perfectly fine besides the dizziness, my arm, and feeling very tired. They did some blood tests and sent me home but said I had to come back the next morning for further testing. So Friday we go back to the ER, they put me in a room, and started running a bunch of tests. I even had to do an MRI of my head so they could make sure nothing weird was happening in there. I had to spend the night in the hospital on Friday. We got all the results of everything back and they were negative. Everything was normal. But that didn't explain why I was dizzy. So an Ear/Nose/Throat doctor came in and examined me. She said that externally everything looked fine but that inside my cochlea (inner ear where the fluid is that helps you balance) there is probably an inflammation. This inflammation could be caused by stress or exhaustion, and I was feeling both of those because of my crazy trip back to the DR after Christmas and getting back late on Sunday and going to school Monday, etc. She said if it is inflamed like that, every little movement I make registers to my ears as a big movement, resulting in the dizziness I was feeling. (I wasn't feeling like the room was spinning, but more like I was in a boat floating on the waves, going up and down and back and forth. Sometimes the waves were big, sometimes small, but there were always waves.) She gave me medicine to take care of the inflammation and instructions to take it easy. I'm not allowed to do sports or run or make any sudden or quick movements for 15 days to give my ears plenty of time to completely heal. If I'm still dizzy after the medicine and being careful for those 15 days, I'll have to go get some more tests to figure out what is causing it. I'm hoping and praying that I'm feeling better long before the 15 days is up!

I still have not been back to school, and I miss my kids so much! Today I have felt the best that I have felt since Wednesday, so that is very encouraging! I actually had times today when I did not feel dizzy at all, which hasn't happened since Thursday! I'm still very tired (though I've been sleeping a lot) and I still did get dizzy when I was up for awhile. That is not enough to discourage me though, because today I have felt so great! I still have to make a decision about school tomorrow...I want to go. I want to be there the whole day. I just don't know if my body is ready for that. I have not been up all day without laying down to rest since Thursday, and I couldn't even make it all day today when I just stayed at home. So we'll see.

Thank you for your prayers, those of you who knew about this. Your prayers and e-mails have been a huge support and encouragement to me! Continue to pray with me that God will restore the health to my body quickly.

Love you all!

Mandy/Amanda :)