Today was a long day! It started at 6:30 this morning for Randy and I. We got up a little after 6:30 to drive the car down to the dealership in Fife to have the coolant leak looked at. They gave us a new 9-7 to drive around today (the 9-7 is the Saab SUV). Randy was excited. He had just been checking one out inside the dealership. Unfortunately, though, it wasn't Randy that got to drive it, it was me. I hate driving big cars. It was very nice inside, but I was very excited to get my little car back this evening!
After dropping the car off this morning, we headed to Randy's doctor appointment at the Neurosurgery clinic at Harborview. I felt a lot more confident with this appointment than I did with the one with the Neurologist from Multicare. The doctor today asked Randy a series of questions. She really wanted to get down to what was different about him since the accident. We talked about the weakness in his left side, the issues he has with his memory, the trouble with finding words, the shakes that come and go, and the constant pain he has in the left side of his head, his neck and his tailbone. We described the happenings of September 5th when we had to take Randy to the ER. She said there is no way to really tell if what happened that night was a seizure. She said it could have been petty seizures because you can be cognizant during those. They are going to do an EEG on Randy in about 3 weeks to see if there is any visible seizure activity or anything out of the ordinary going on. What was funny was that she had said that because of Randy's injury, his brain is expected to show as "not normal" through the EEG and it might not be able to tell us anything. Then, after she left the room for awhile to view Randy's records from Harborview and to consult with an attending physician, she came back and told us that Randy had 2 EEGs done while in Harborview and the 2nd one (which was the only one I was actually aware of ~ I believe it took place about a week after the accident), came back normal. She seemed surprised. She said that since that that came back normal, we should be able to see if anything is out of the ordinary going on now.
She did say, though, that she does not believe Randy had a stroke. She says that what she thinks the other doctor saw was from the initial injury. The recent MRI showed some changes, but she believes the changes were from the weakness and lack of use of the left side.
I asked her about the seizure medicaiton given to us by the other Neurologist. She said that she wouldn't recommend it for seizure medication, but it would work for the pain. The attending physician, however, recommended a different medication ~ Amitriptyline. They chose that medication because the side effect is making you sleepy, which would be great in helping Randy get to sleep at night. They are starting him out with a low dose and they warned that it won't help right away. It takes a few days to get into your system. I am really hoping, though, that it will help with his headaches. I can't imagine what it must feel like to have constant pain and trying to function through that.
The attending physician asked Randy how he would compare how he is now with how he was before ~ what percentage is he now to what he was then if then was 100%. Randy answered with the low 90's. Randy said the biggest detriment he is dealing with right now is his eyesight.
We started the medication tonight. Of course, Randy wanted immediate results, so he was a little disappointed. Hopefully it will kick in soon, though, and start allieviating the pain. We get the EEG done in about 3 weeks and have a follow up visit with the Neurology clinic in 6 weeks.
After the doctor visit, Randy and I dropped his mom off in time to walk Cass home from school and he and I went to pick up the car. The problem with the car had to do with a water pressure valve. It was a quick easy fix and it was covered under warranty ~ yeah!!!!
Then, after getting home, Randy cooked us dinner. He did an excellent job! He said it felt good to be back to doing some of the things he did before.
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