Little by little

I am recovering little by little. Still moving much slower than my normal pace, but as many have suggested--maybe I shouldn't resume my previous crazy pace. I went to Girl Scouts on Tuesday because it was out last meeting before break and pretty much just stayed in a chair the whole time. I taught the girls how to "hug Ms. Jenn high" as their normal waist hugs would have hurt my back! Tuesday evening was the chorus concert at school in which E was the soloist and sang Silent Night (it was beautiful!). Starting January 3rd I will be working at G's office 3 days a week to start and maybe more (we'll see!). I will resume teaching Drama twice a week in the new year.

My Neurologist appt on Wed went well. Dr still wants to monitor me because he isn't convinced of the diagnosis of pseudotumor cerebri. I was missing the classic symptom of headache prior to the spinal tap and the leakage of spinal fluid after should have helped not caused me headaches and landed me in the hospital. So--I will be back to the Ophthalmologist in the new year for a full work up and will see the Neurologist again in a month. I am learning what is high in potassium as my diuretic I am taking to keep the swelling down in my spine makes me lose it. It is also causing me tingling in my feet in hands which is driving me crazy. Oh well--I can see and I have no headaches so I think I'm still on the plus side!

More fun

Well-the spinal tap kept me in bed for several days until Saturday morning when I couldn't take it anymore. We went to the emergency room when I woke up at 2am with a horrible headache. They ended up admitting me to the hospital and giving me some really good drugs so that I really didn't care about anything and finally on Sunday they did a blood patch to seal my spinal tap. Apparently I was leaking spinal fluid inside, so they did another spinal and sealed it with my own blood. The pain stopped almost immediately. So now I am back home but wear out quite easily since I have been in bed since last Wednesday. The doctor said to take it easy today and I am going back to see them on Wednesday. SO--hopefully this nightmare is over and I can go back to my life.

Spinal Tap

I had a spinal tap Wednesday. It all started when I began to lose sight in my right eye. I went to the Optometrist and you know its never a good sign when they call in their colleagues to consult. They decided that I had papilledema--my optic nerve was swollen and that was caused by pressure in the brain. I went a couple of days later to an Ophthalmologist who agreed with their finding and was told that the causes of this were, brain tumor, encephalitis, meningitis, and something called pseudotumor cerebri--too much spinal fluid. So--off to the Neurologist. The Neurologist ordered an MRI which showed an empty sella (if you look it up it looks way scarier than it is). This is actually a sign of pseudotumor cerebri which is actually the lesser of evils. So off to the hospital for a spinal tap. It wasn't that bad--just some weird sensations. My spinal pressure was over twice normal. They drained 25 cc of spinal fluid. Although everything I read said it would take time for my symptoms to subside, when I went out in the parking lot my vision was clear. I had to stay in bed all day and drink caffeine (yeah!!) to avoid headaches--which I have anyway. But--all in all it went well. I have to take a diuretic to keep my spinal pressure down and take off some weight because that adds to the problem. So after a couple of weeks of worry and a lot of prayer, everything seems OK. For those of you that knew about it and were praying--thank you with all my heart.

St. Augustine Trip

E and I went to St. Augustine on December 6 & 7 with a class trip. It was so much fun. We left at 6am on a bus full of 50 kids. On Thursday we went to the Castillo de San Marcos (Spanish fort), on a tram ride of the city, the Old Jail, the Fountain of Youth and did a Scavenger hunt that evening with a pirate. Friday we went to the Alligator farm (really a cool place), the St. Augustine Lighthouse, the oldest wooden schoolhouse, the Colonial Spanish Quarter and of course souvenir shopping. Due to a lack of chaperones, I climbed the lighthouse 2 1/2 times! All 219 steps. I hadn't been to St. Augustine in about 13 years and saw many things I probably wouldn't on my own, but I really enjoyed every moment. I also saw a lot of things I would like to go see on another trip, so maybe the Vilchez Family will have to take another trip soon.

Never thought I would see the day

So I never thought I would become a blogger, but I really am getting tired of my friends bugging me! E and I came home yesterday from a weekend at Camp Nocatee, our Girl Scout camp in Clewiston. I used to camp there as a Girl Scout and it is a blast taking my daughter. We had 22 Girl Scouts between the 2 troops that went and did something I never did before with Girl Scouts--camped with dads! Have to admit it was a lot of fun. We worked on astronomy and went on a night hike (It was overcast and started to rain so we had to cut that short), I taught them how to use compasses, went on a nature hike, played at the barn with all the animals, had a talent show, made smores, made tin foil meals, made banana boats just to name a few things! I had 8 adults with me ( a new record) that were such hard workers and made my life a million times easier. I did not come home and crash as I normally do (although a major amount of beer was consumed) and I woke up today happy as a clam.