On September 27th 2012, I gained a cold which seemed to be like every other cold everyone else seemed to have caught but with me it made me extremely tired and unable to concentrate, in a way like everyone else again. On September 28th (Friday) I got home from school and fell asleep on my bed until my mum came and woke me up telling me I had to get something to eat before I went to work. After I got back from work I again fell asleep fully dressed and didn't wake up again until 9:00 the next morning. I went out for a couple of hours to the orchestra which I play at, had some lunch and fell asleep yet again. I woke up a few hours later, had some dinner and then went straight to bed and slept for 13 solid hours. September 30th (Sunday) I woke up at 9:00.
Now I don't know about anyone else but when I'm bunged up with cold and can't breathe through my nose, I try and have a hot bath with all the windows closed so then the steam from the bath can help me and try and almost steam the cold I had out of me. So I did this.
After getting out of the bath I started to feel quite dizzy and faint. I sat down and felt a tingling in my left leg. Then my right leg. As that went it came into my hands. Then back into my feet. I tried to stand up but I could feel my legs going from underneath me, as if my legs couldn't support my weight anymore. When I shouted my mum she had to hold me up so then I could walk to my bedroom and sit down somewhere cooler as well as more comfortable.
We called NHS direct and they said to get to Accident & Emergency and if I couldn't get to the car to call for an ambulance. After only just managing to get to the top of the stairs with both my mum and sisters help, we tried to call the ambulance who said, "it isn't life threatening, so you'll have to get her to the hospital yourself". In the past I have had to have an ambulance twice: once for when I had a knee injury, the second for when I had a bad reaction to a booster jab I had at school. Both these times the ambulance service have been great and have told me everything that they're doing whether it be writing down little details or taking blood samples, so when hearing this I was a little insulted that they immediately knew it wasn't "life threatening" when it could have been.
When I got to A&E we were only there an hour before we were being asked what had happened, symptoms etc. when we got to see the consultant who was in charge at the time of the A&E nurses/doctors. He did lots of tests testing my eyes, balance (which had now totally gone when I only had a little bit to start with!), my head, arms, legs, back, EVERYTHING! He decided I had to be kept in over night for observations and to see if it was short or long term as he couldn't see anything obvious to what it was.
I stayed in over night for the next four nights (September 30th-October 4th), so here is a little run down of everything that went on when I was kept in:
September 30th: I was moved to the A&E ward in which there are 6 beds and you are kept there until a bed is free. At about 10:00pm I was moved to the paediatric ward (the children's ward) as at this time I was still 16 and I had never been in hospital. It meant I got my own room and would be allowed to have visitors all day. When I arrived at paediatrics I was told I would have to have my temperature, pulse and blood pressure taken every four hours no matter what time.
October 1st: The consultant of the ward came round to me and did all the tests the A&E doctor had done and other ones such as testing my reflexes in my knees, hips, ankles, shoulders, elbows and wrists, as well as testing the strength in my arms, legs and torso. He said I had to have a couple of MRI scans. I had the MRI scans on my brain and then on the whole of my back which had to be done in three different lots. We got told we would get the results later that day but we didn't. Throughout the rest of the day and night I was thinking about everything it could have been as the doctor told us of the most and least likely of things it could have been that cause my legs to suddenly go weak and shaky. He said the most likely is that I have an infection or some nerve damage within my brain or spine, and that the least likely is that it something serious such as a tumor within either the brain or along the spine. The main thing that was in my mind was the idea that I could have a tumor that was causing some sort of paralysis in my legs. The fact that there were no clear signs of anything wasn't helpful and so the doctors had to assume it could have been anything on any scale of severity.
October 2nd: We got the results of the MRI scans and they were clear for both my brain and spine (PHEW!) but there was a small bulge on my back which they wanted to test. Again they said it could be just a little bulge of fluid or possibly a tumor. To test for this I had to have another MRI but I had to have a line put into me so then they could put a translucent dye into me. If this dye showed up on the new scans then it would mean there was blood within this bulge and I would to have a harsh treatment of steroids and other medication to make it go away, if the dye didn't show up then it would mean that it is not going to mean anything and is just fluid. For the rest of the day I was left to my own devices and on this day I tried to walk for the first time since being admitted, before then I was only able to get out of bed and then sit in a wheelchair which was by my bed at all times for anyone to push me.
October 3rd: I saw the neurologist again who did all the tests he had done when he first saw me and there was no improvement from what he could see. That day I had the line put into me which didn't go well. I am not a fan of needles ever since I had the bad reaction to the jab I had at school which I mentioned earlier on. I have deep set veins meaning if I have to have a blood test, injection or line it is very hard to find a vein in which to put the needle. The doctor who did this I had seen the day before carrying lots of folders and files and dropping them every other step which immediately put me off as soon as I saw him carrying the kidney dish with all the equipment and looking as happy as Larry! The senior nurse of the ward before this had come and put some special cream which was meant to help numb the area and so on both arms I had this cream on the back to my hands, the inside of my wrists and then the inside of my elbows. It didn't work. At all. He couldn't find a vein in my elbow and I was at this point biting someone so then I didn't scare any children on the ward. He gave in and tried it in the back of my hand. After an hour it was in. Straight after I was meant to have my dinner but had to be rushed to the MRI to get to my slot in the machine in time so I had to have my dinner cold. Anyone who knows me knows I like my food. I get groggy when I don't get it and possibly even groggier if it is cold. Again we got told we would get the results later that day and we didn't. I had to keep the line in just in case something showed up on the MRI and I needed to have any antibiotics or something.
The line I had put in my hand. It had teddy bears on it as I was on paediatrics and because they're cute.
October 4th: The neurologist came and told us that the MRI was clear and that I would be able to go home later that day after I had had a discharge letter written and signed by both my consultant and the head neurologist. This didn't get done until around 4:00pm but I got the line out just after I had my lunch so I was no longer in any pain with my hand. When it came to me leaving one of the nurses came and gave me the letter which had been written so I could read and so then my dad could also see it with me being at an age where I needed some parental consent or support in certain things. When reading it, it said that I had had a virus or infection which had now gone from my system and, wait for it, my symptoms of weakness and shaking within the legs was "just one of those things which should clear up in approximately 12 months". One of those things? Still I got to go home before dinner which was the best meal I had had in the long week that had passed.
By the time I had left the hospital I was able to walk with some sort of support and so I decided to use my crutches which I still had in that back of my wardrobe from the third or fourth time I had a knee injury. I used these on the Friday at school but only managed half a day as it was such a shock to me to see how much energy little things would take now since I couldn't actually walk very fast with my legs still shaking quite severely. Since then I had three physiotherapy sessions which didn't really improve much and so I was told to consider acupuncture.
A week or two passed and at this time I had managed to walk short distances without any support as long as I had something or someone to fall onto as my balance still wasn't great. When I had started considering to have the acupuncture or not though I started with a pain in my lower back which meant I found it painful to bend or twist my lower back and had to keep it straight at all times. I had to then start using a wheelchair at school and only managed a small portion of my day as I found it too painful to little things such as eat. I came home that afternoon and took the Tuesday and Wednesday off of school because the pain in my back was so excruciating. On the Tuesday I went to my GP and she said that it was either the way I was walking and so it was something muscular, or it was the nerves starting to feel the pain from them being shocked from the very start of everything kicking off. I was given a strong prescription of paracetamol and ibuprofen which I had to alternate every two hours.
With me getting this sudden back pain me and my family decided that we should get in contact with neurologist and see what he said and have a check up as we hadn't heard anything from his since I left hospital. When calling his secretary though my "case" hadn't been discussed and wouldn't be discussed until the end of November with some of the larger hospitals in the area. This was because the hospital that is local to me is relatively small with only two or three neurologists and so had to be discussed with some of the bigger hospitals with more options in terms of fixing the problem.
From this information me and my family decided to go privately to a hospital a little further away so then we knew we would be able to get some answers quickly and have all the tests we needed instead of having to wait around a few weeks when everything had either died down or hopefully disappeared.
The doctor I saw and am still seeing at the moment has given me so many more answers than I thought that there are no words that can thank him enough. He did all the normal tests as well as a nerve and muscle test which tested the sensitivity of the nerves and muscles which came back all clear which was positive as it meant there was no damage to the nerves. He also confirmed that this wasn't a permanent thing and that within the maximum of a year I would be fully recovered and running marathons. He said he agreed with the neurologists at the hospital I had been admitted too in that I had had a virus but he then went further and explained that it must have managed to get past my immune system and shocked the nerves in my lower back and legs to cause the weakness and shaking.
I now have to have a neurological physiotherapist who will teach me to teach my brain on how to walk again as when we are babies and want to learn to walk our brain remembers how to do this until the part that remembers how to do so is damaged, hence me having to re-learn. When doing this specialist physiotherapy I have to set myself goals, so for example in 3 months I will be able to walk without any support or a wheelchair and in 6 months I will be fully recovered with minimal signs that there was ever anything wrong in the first place!
I am still using the wheelchair at school as I am unable to walk long distances as I am both slow and unable to have the energy to do so, which is another thing I have to train my body to do, manage my energy effectively. Hopefully within 3-6 months I will be fully recovered as this is what the private neurologist estimates will be my recovery time. So... wish me luck!! <3
