Friday was an unfortunate day as it ended in me having to go to the ER, once again, for a grand-mal seizure. Tonic–clonic seizures (formerly known as grand mal seizures or gran mal seizures) are a type of generalized seizure that affects the entire brain (see Wikipedia for more information). At first it was thought, from my first one, to be medication induced, resulting from lack of Ativan in my system. But this seizure was much different in that I had just taken all my medication prior to my seizure, and while running low on Ativan, I was not out of Ativan. The only change in medication was when I went to the ER earlier that day (yes, I ended up back in the same ER following my seizure within 24 hours of my initial visit this week).

I find it difficult to understand how an RN can “forget” that Imitrex (Sumatriptan) is only found in INJECTION form, not IV form for one very important reason: it can stop the heart. I have survived 3-4 IV injected Imitrex situations out of pure luck but this one was not to be without problems. It could have very well lowered my seizure threshhold, which apparently isn’t very high to begin with due to my chronic problems as well as the vast amount of maintenance medications I am on, to the point where my other medications (oxycodone or whatever) were able to trigger the seizure when normally, they don’t.

This one was different, also, in the fact that I was alone in the room (kitchen) preparing my TPN bag after taking my nighttime medications, when it happened. I was standing instead of sitting in my chair, like I was the first time, which caused way more issues. From the pain and swelling, I figure during the seizure I hit my chin on the way down and ricocheted off the refrigerator a few times with my head and then finally landed on the floor. Of course the noise was loud enough to call my husband from clear across, on the other side of the house. Because we told him how well he did handling my last seizure, not 3 months ago, he considers himself an expert (I would never wish anyone an expert on handling seizures!) and did not feel it necessary to alert the paramedics with a call to 911, like he did last time. Too bad too; I wouldn’t mind saying hi to my neighborhood paramedics. They are great guys!

He simply held me up so as not to hit my head on the hard floor again, turned me on my side to allow fluid to come out of my mouth, and then waited for me to finish shaking. Afterwards we headed to my favorite ER and had a CT scan (I’m not allowed MRIs because of my neurostimulator and portacath).

I was not given a blood test; in fact, they didn’t give me anything by IV while there. I should have received a blood test. As if I could not make it easier on them, I have an accessed portacath from which blood flows freely when needed (I’m a hard stick now that my veins have shrunk; I make it a point to have them ALWAYS draw blood and give fluid through it). I only worry about my blood tests because I have started to develop petechiae under my eyes. I’ve also been running low blood counts for the past month. If it was just under one eye, I could attribute it to the fall from my seizure, but I have them under both eyes and it is starting to spread from out under my eye to my ears and other areas on my face. Hopefully it will start to heal and stop spreading as that might indicate a bigger underlying disease. I’m not entirely ready for that quite yet (as if you can ever be ready…).

So that is what I got to do this weekend. I wanted to make it a better weekend than laying around trying to recover the energy lost during the seizure, so we headed out to the tulip festival. Here are a few of my favorites, but as usual – you can visit our flickr site for all of them and download for print if you wish. They came out very good!

These people were only a few of the ones that asked to take pictures with Ellie and I. I found the question odd, as I would never go up to anyone else and ask for a picture with their dog, but to each their own!

I have NOT updated here in forever! Like…forever. So instead of boring you with an insanely long blog post that you’d never read and quite frankly – I’d never write; I decided to bore you with a video instead, of pictures from the past few months from when my dad visited, through Jaci’s wedding, Christmas, two major infections and beyond. Then once it is out there I can start updating more regularly. Maybe. Be well!~

See my new GP video currently on my front page of my GP site: as well as my GP brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles that help me through stuff:

Quick update. We went to our pet store, as planned, for their anniversary sale. Lots of people showed up with their pets. There was even someone with a pet chicken. Weird. This weekend was something I was looking forward to for a long time because of the sales. There were a few decoration pieces I had my eye on for months and knew that it would only be worth the money if they were on sale. So today was the day! I got a new rock decoration, two new plants and two new fish for our tank! I am in the process of making the tank more natural than colorful, like our first setup was. And I hate those fake picture backgrounds people use on the back of their tanks. I needed a new bubbler to replace our pirate chest, again moving to something more natural, and I always wanted a back wall covered in bubbles. I found a device at the store that did just that! Here are pictures and a video of our new fish and the new setup of our tank. The new fish are crazy and awesome. They have livened up the tank and energized the rest of the fish. It is the happening place to be!

After a week of saving up energy, I am ready to spend it on our busy weekend we have planned out over the next couple days. Our favorite pet store, and the only pet store we trust with our fish, is celebrating their 37th anniversary by offering 50% off the entire store. They are also offering games, prizes and food. We are looking to add two new fish to our aquarium as well as new plants and decorations. I’ve been looking forward to this week for months!

It is also the week of Medina Days. The week long block party in the city of Medina. We have friends that live there and last year we were invited to participate in the festivities and this year we sort of took last year as our adoption into this neighborhood and are attending the festivities again. We are mostly going to attend the fireworks on the beach, the same beach where we watched the Blue Angels. I hope they don’t let me down like Bellevue did on the 4th by not selling glow necklaces. I was majorly bummed out. It really is the highlight of the fireworks experience. The fireworks go off Saturday night.

Sunday, Victor wants to watch a late night movie. It looks like it is going to be raining that day, finally back into the 60s where Washington weather belongs! My body can’t handle many more days of summer heat It really is taking its toll! But if we can catch it when it is just cloudy, I’d like to take my Elliebear to the dog park. We would have taken her last week, but she had that UTI thing going on and swimming around in a river would probably not be the best idea. She is on human grade antibiotics now, not finished, but I think she should be safe for a walk in the park and a quick swim if the weather permits.

Other than that, not much to report. I’ve been working hard on completely restructuring my gastroparesis site. You can go check it out. Victor is working hard at work as they keep giving him more and more assignments. He still rides his bike to work and climbs when he can. At night, when all is said and done, we like to watch our TV shows we had recorded earlier in the day while we eat ice cream. Ellie and tucker crawl up onto the couch with us and it is quite enjoyable. Except when Ellie participates in TV discussion…as seen in a video I recorded on my iPad (sorry for the bad lighting!)

So I had to take another ER trip after chest pain woke me up several times Tuesday night along with a difficulty to breathe. I woke up the next day around 2pm in a pool of my own cold sweat. I had lost 3 pounds just in fluid. Victor was at work but told me to go to the ER and he would meet me there on his bike. I was admitted with a heart rate of 145 and taken back to an exam room, placed on monitors and IV fluids through my port. I reverently watched this heart rate as it climbed as high as 158 and fell no lower than 135. It maintained a consistent rate of 155 for at least 30 minutes and during this time, my doctor became very concerned as this rate for any length of time is not good for the heart. I was given a strong pain medication for my chest pain (dilaudid IV), an anxiety medication to relax my body (ativan IV), and an anti-nausea medication (zofran IV). It took many injections of this combination to bring my heart rate back into the 130s.

X-rays were taken of my chest, right in my room (a portable x-ray machine, who knew!) and an EKG was done. EKGs aren’t very reliable due to my pacer. The electric shock given off by my stimulator interferes with the EKG, so the information the EKG gives is poor at best. After I finished the liter of fluids, they sent me home, regardless of my heart rate still being above 130, resting. They brushed off my erratic heart rate as a result of anxiety. Both Victor and I remain unconvinced. I continue to monitor my heart rate; above 120 resting, and back in I go!

Aside from, what seems to be a weekly trip to the ER, the rest of the week was rather uneventful. We did have a fun Sunday. We were invited to go see the Blue Angels perform for their last day in Seattle. We watched from the beach of Medina.

It was hot outside, my real first time being out. I could feel the sun zapping my energy as it beat down on my transparently white skin. There were a lot of people out that day to see the Blue Angels. Kids were swimming in the perfectly temperate waters of the lake, the smell of hot dogs, sausages, and hamburgers filled the air as families barbecued lunch, and adults gathered around each other conversing and taking pictures while everyone waited for the show to start. We, unfortunately, were not told how close the beach was to our friend’s house nor were we told that they usually bike to the event, bypassing the need to park. Poor Victor had the job of finding a parking spot while we all found a suitable spot to watch the Blue Angels. It took him, probably 30 minutes to make it back to us, halfway through the show He still managed to get two great shots even in not so great atmospheric conditions (haze).

So that was our week. Oh, I almost forgot. I also did a GES (Gastric Emptying Scan). The results of this test and what it is, the process and what it means will be written about and detailed on my gastroparesis page. Gastroparesis Awareness week is the 21-27th so if you could, take the time to learn more about it. Feel free to ask me any questions or research a little about it yourself. You can find more information about it on the G-Pact page or even on my Living with GP page And if I gave you a bracelet, always wear it! If someone asks you about what it means, you’ll then be able to tell them if you have done your research. The more you know! Hopefully we can find a cure and it all starts with us