This morning, Tracy discovered that something was fluttering in our artificial Fica tree. She sent me to investigate and I discovered that a flesh-eating bat had invaded the house and was about to devour us all.
Actually, it was a bird that had somehow made its way into the house. It must have been there overnight, but we are not sure how it got in. I opened the front and back doors to entice it to leave, but it keep making short trips to the curtain rod or flower arrangement, always returning to the Fica tree. I shooed it out of the tree and it flew upstairs. Anticipating this, Tracy had secured all the upper floors doors to keep it from flying into someone's bedroom. I got the bright idea to move the Fica tree into the fornt doorway, so that when it returned to the tree, I could easily force it outdoors.
After moving the tree, I returned to the bottom of the stairs, but neither saw nor heard the intruder again. I made a lot of noise, but couldn't rouse it. The entire time I was doing this, Skeeter was lying at the top of the stairs, watching me with great interest. This will become important later.
My attempts at making the bird appear from it hiding place having failed, I then went upstairs to flush it out. Halfway up the stairs, I discovered the dead bird lying on the stairs just below where Skeeter was sitting. It had been right next to her the entire time, but failed to gain her interest. I guess she's not much of a bird dog.
I do not know how the bird met its demise, but I think that it might have run into something because its head looked somewhat deflated when I threw into the backyard.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
Went to the Neurosurgeon Today
I had my follow-up visit to the Neurosurgeon this morning and it went well. I was given a standard neurological examination and despite the objections and opinions of a few of my associates, I passed with flying colors. The entire office visit took less than five minutes.
There was one additional piece of information that I picked up during the interview. I have previously told my audience that I experienced an intracerebral hemorrhage. Since that time, I have consulted a few medical resources, most notably the Merck Manual, only to discover that most resources describe the event as a small stroke. I spoke to the doctor about this, and he reaffirmed that an intracerebral is bad news. He also told me that that wasn't what had happened to me. It seems that I relayed some incorrect information in an earlier post. What I experienced is known as an subarachnoid hemorrhage. This is bleeding outside the brain tissue as opposed to inside the brain (intracerebral). The effects are not nearly as severe as no brain tissue is destroyed. He also informed me that a "venus structure" is simply a vein, vice an arterial structure or artery.
He reiterated that it is very unlikely to reoccur, and that I am under no restrictions. If you are interested in looking into what happended, I found some good links on the subject below:
Neuroland.com
Strokecenter.org
Wikipedi.org
InteliHealth.com
There was one additional piece of information that I picked up during the interview. I have previously told my audience that I experienced an intracerebral hemorrhage. Since that time, I have consulted a few medical resources, most notably the Merck Manual, only to discover that most resources describe the event as a small stroke. I spoke to the doctor about this, and he reaffirmed that an intracerebral is bad news. He also told me that that wasn't what had happened to me. It seems that I relayed some incorrect information in an earlier post. What I experienced is known as an subarachnoid hemorrhage. This is bleeding outside the brain tissue as opposed to inside the brain (intracerebral). The effects are not nearly as severe as no brain tissue is destroyed. He also informed me that a "venus structure" is simply a vein, vice an arterial structure or artery.
He reiterated that it is very unlikely to reoccur, and that I am under no restrictions. If you are interested in looking into what happended, I found some good links on the subject below:
Neuroland.com
Strokecenter.org
Wikipedi.org
InteliHealth.com
Laser Mania
Austin had his birthday bash over the weekend and from the looks of it, all the boys had a grand time. Obviously held late, the big party was held at the Shadowland Laser Adventure Center in Chantilly, VA. We had the party after his actual birthday, once we found a suitable gap in our schedule and the available dates offered by Shadowland. For those of you not in the know, Shadowland is an organized laser tag center. You play by donning your laser tag suit and entering the arena. Once inside you are divided into Blue/Red teams and the battle begins. The basic objective is to shoot your laser gun at opposing team members and collect points.
I played the first round with the boys, but sat out the second round as the whole dark room/flashing lights experience gave me a headache. Recent events have forced me not to ignore this, so I didn't push it.
Simply put, Austin and his associated gang throughly enjoyed the experience and can't wait to go back. Tracy and I on the other hand were able to put up with shrieking and jostling that only a band of 9-11 year old boys can produce only because the entire affair was not taking place in our house!
Here's to parties at some other place than home!
I played the first round with the boys, but sat out the second round as the whole dark room/flashing lights experience gave me a headache. Recent events have forced me not to ignore this, so I didn't push it.
Simply put, Austin and his associated gang throughly enjoyed the experience and can't wait to go back. Tracy and I on the other hand were able to put up with shrieking and jostling that only a band of 9-11 year old boys can produce only because the entire affair was not taking place in our house!
Here's to parties at some other place than home!
Oktoberfest
Morton's BMW had their open house (Oktoberfest) on Saturday and I met Dad at the dealership to check out the shop and eat some free food. I had the opportunity to get a first hand look at his new bike. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:
Dad's is the same color as pictured, it only differs in that his will have a rear luggage box behind the seat. As expected, the BMW riders were in full force.
This was my first time on my bike since the incident, so I had a productive day.
Dad's is the same color as pictured, it only differs in that his will have a rear luggage box behind the seat. As expected, the BMW riders were in full force.
This was my first time on my bike since the incident, so I had a productive day.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Status Update
I have spent the last week or so looking into the causes and effects of an intracerebral hemorrhage. Nothing that you read is going to make you feel any better, so I am viewing what happened as something that I did not cause nor could I prevent. Having said that, you may be pleased to hear that I have completely recovered. I have no physical or mental repercussions from the incident, and depending upon your perspective, I remain the charming, fascinating, witty, or degenerate character I have always been.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Back Problems
You are never too old to learn something. The lesson of the day is that after 40 years on the planet, I have discovered that several days after a spinal tap, my back hurts like hell! Several kind souls have assured me that this is normal, but the fact remains that for the first time in my life, I cannot touch my toes. A minor inconvenience perhaps, but a real nuisance nonetheless.
Monday, October 03, 2005
I'm Back!
I am back after my first overnight stay in a hospital in 28 years. I had a small brain hemorrhage last week, but all seems well.
I went to bed last Wednesday night with the worst headache I have ever had. It started as pressure at the top of both of my jaws and it felt like my head was going to explode. I tried to sleep it off, but after 3 hours of trying to deal with it, Tracy sensed something was wrong and called my Doctor. The Doctor strongly suggested that we go to the ER, and I reluctantly let Tracy drive me there. The look on the face of the female EMT at the hospital echoed my own feelings; What kind of
The ER physician, armed with my family history of brain aneurysm (my paternal grandmother died from this in 1986), went about a standard series of tests to see if that might be the cause. Here was the plan: run a CT scan to look for something odd, and if nothing explanatory could be found, tap the spinal fluid to look for blood where it shouldn't be. The CT scan was negative and they prepped for a spinal tap. Spinal taps, familiar to mothers around the globe, involves the insertion of a big needle into your spinal cord to remove samples of spinal fluid. The rationale was that there was small chance that a negative CT scan would still mask the presence of any blood leakage, but a spinal tap would be the definitive answer. As you may have guessed by now, the spinal tap showed a "gross amount of blood", and Prince William Hospital informed me that they had done all they could for me, and that I would be transported by helicopter to Fairfax Hospital.
It is safe to state that the concerns expressed internally by me and observed in the EMT staff about visiting the ER for a headache disappeared and a sense of urgency emerged. I was airlifted from Prince William and took a relatively short (10 min) ride to the bigger medical facility in Fairfax County. Tracy made the same journey by car in 65 minutes.
When I got to Fairfax, they did another CT scan, essentially ignoring any and all tests administered by Prince William. This scan was again negative, so they injected my blood stream with dye, did another scan, and found what they were looking for, a small amount of blood where it shouldn't be. This scan did have some encouraging results. There was not an aneurysm, but a burst venus structure in a blood vein. This was good news on a number of counts; First, blood vessels are returning blood to the heart and are a low pressure system, rather than arteries which actively pump blood throughout the body and are high pressure systems. This meant limited bleeding. Second, these types of leaks typically seal themselves after a short time, thereby limiting the damage to the brain. Bottom line is that if the leak had occurred in my arterial system, you wouldn't be reading this. Third, this type of leakage would simply be absorbed into the body.
I was more than a little surprised at the number of people who visited me in the ER on Thursday morning. I can only guess that everybody was convinced that I was going to die and they wanted one last look at me. In fact, when Richard asked for me at the information desk, he was asked "Did you know him?" I can't and won't try to explain that response. Here is who I remember being there:
Tracy, Alyce, Dad, Ricky, Francine, Frank, Jimmy, Darrell, Ron, Amanda, Jennifer, Richard, and Marge.
The ER staff was probably wondering just who the hell was in bed #4. I had never been injected with Morphine before, but it did the trick. To all accounts, I was alternating between lucidity and unconsciousness, with little to no overlap. I woke up at 1PM to an empty room and I was admitted to the hospital in the Neuroscience ward. Everyone fund out where I was when I called Tracy. Francine was in the hospital when I was moved, but I thought everyone had left so there was a little confusion about where I was.
I was introduced to a new aspect of computer networking while I was there. I was admitted by a neurosurgeon after he reviewed my CT scans. I found out later that he reviewed the scans via a computer screen in the OR while he was performing surgery. Pretty cool use of the technology. He came up later that day to say that he wanted to keep me for observation overnight, do another CT scan and evaluate my condition before I was released.
I had the last CT scan at 2:30AM the next morning. Based on our conversation the previous night he told me that he would be by in the morning to look over the scans. He also told me what had happened, and that there was very little chance that it would happen again. He also reiterated that fact that I did not have an aneurysm. I took this as good news.
As it turned out, I was not released from the hospital until 5:30PM on Friday. My day was spent waiting around the room becoming acquainted with the antics of my roommate. He was a 20yr old male, whose wild moped ride ultimately had him carom off a parked truck and crack his helmetless skull on the road. The highlight of the day was the following exchange I overhead during his interview with a speech therapist:
Q: "Who is the President of the United States?"
A: (After a 5 second delay) "Bush"
Q: "Who was the first President?"
A: "Lincoln"
Q: "What are the two major political parties in the country?"
A: "I don't know"
.
.
.
Q: "How are Airplanes, Cars, and Bicycles alike?"
A: "They all have wheels."
This last case has proven somewhat controversial when retold, but the correct answer is 'They are all forms of transportation.' Several people are of the opinion that none of his answers would have changed had the test been administered a week earlier. I found the entire interview entertaining. Less entertaining was listening to he and his mother argue the entire day.
I call Tracy and she picked me up about an hour later, whereon we proceeded to sit on I66 for 2 hours trying to get home. A little 'Welcome Back' from the local traffic patterns.
I am trying to take it easy, and the only real complication is that my back is killing me from the spinal tap. The aftereffects have proven to be far more painful than the procedure itself.
That's the story, but rest assured that I am fine, or at least I feel fine. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to visit me while I was in ER. It's nice to have that many friends.
I went to bed last Wednesday night with the worst headache I have ever had. It started as pressure at the top of both of my jaws and it felt like my head was going to explode. I tried to sleep it off, but after 3 hours of trying to deal with it, Tracy sensed something was wrong and called my Doctor. The Doctor strongly suggested that we go to the ER, and I reluctantly let Tracy drive me there. The look on the face of the female EMT at the hospital echoed my own feelings; What kind of
The ER physician, armed with my family history of brain aneurysm (my paternal grandmother died from this in 1986), went about a standard series of tests to see if that might be the cause. Here was the plan: run a CT scan to look for something odd, and if nothing explanatory could be found, tap the spinal fluid to look for blood where it shouldn't be. The CT scan was negative and they prepped for a spinal tap. Spinal taps, familiar to mothers around the globe, involves the insertion of a big needle into your spinal cord to remove samples of spinal fluid. The rationale was that there was small chance that a negative CT scan would still mask the presence of any blood leakage, but a spinal tap would be the definitive answer. As you may have guessed by now, the spinal tap showed a "gross amount of blood", and Prince William Hospital informed me that they had done all they could for me, and that I would be transported by helicopter to Fairfax Hospital.
It is safe to state that the concerns expressed internally by me and observed in the EMT staff about visiting the ER for a headache disappeared and a sense of urgency emerged. I was airlifted from Prince William and took a relatively short (10 min) ride to the bigger medical facility in Fairfax County. Tracy made the same journey by car in 65 minutes.
When I got to Fairfax, they did another CT scan, essentially ignoring any and all tests administered by Prince William. This scan was again negative, so they injected my blood stream with dye, did another scan, and found what they were looking for, a small amount of blood where it shouldn't be. This scan did have some encouraging results. There was not an aneurysm, but a burst venus structure in a blood vein. This was good news on a number of counts; First, blood vessels are returning blood to the heart and are a low pressure system, rather than arteries which actively pump blood throughout the body and are high pressure systems. This meant limited bleeding. Second, these types of leaks typically seal themselves after a short time, thereby limiting the damage to the brain. Bottom line is that if the leak had occurred in my arterial system, you wouldn't be reading this. Third, this type of leakage would simply be absorbed into the body.
I was more than a little surprised at the number of people who visited me in the ER on Thursday morning. I can only guess that everybody was convinced that I was going to die and they wanted one last look at me. In fact, when Richard asked for me at the information desk, he was asked "Did you know him?" I can't and won't try to explain that response. Here is who I remember being there:
Tracy, Alyce, Dad, Ricky, Francine, Frank, Jimmy, Darrell, Ron, Amanda, Jennifer, Richard, and Marge.
The ER staff was probably wondering just who the hell was in bed #4. I had never been injected with Morphine before, but it did the trick. To all accounts, I was alternating between lucidity and unconsciousness, with little to no overlap. I woke up at 1PM to an empty room and I was admitted to the hospital in the Neuroscience ward. Everyone fund out where I was when I called Tracy. Francine was in the hospital when I was moved, but I thought everyone had left so there was a little confusion about where I was.
I was introduced to a new aspect of computer networking while I was there. I was admitted by a neurosurgeon after he reviewed my CT scans. I found out later that he reviewed the scans via a computer screen in the OR while he was performing surgery. Pretty cool use of the technology. He came up later that day to say that he wanted to keep me for observation overnight, do another CT scan and evaluate my condition before I was released.
I had the last CT scan at 2:30AM the next morning. Based on our conversation the previous night he told me that he would be by in the morning to look over the scans. He also told me what had happened, and that there was very little chance that it would happen again. He also reiterated that fact that I did not have an aneurysm. I took this as good news.
As it turned out, I was not released from the hospital until 5:30PM on Friday. My day was spent waiting around the room becoming acquainted with the antics of my roommate. He was a 20yr old male, whose wild moped ride ultimately had him carom off a parked truck and crack his helmetless skull on the road. The highlight of the day was the following exchange I overhead during his interview with a speech therapist:
Q: "Who is the President of the United States?"
A: (After a 5 second delay) "Bush"
Q: "Who was the first President?"
A: "Lincoln"
Q: "What are the two major political parties in the country?"
A: "I don't know"
.
.
.
Q: "How are Airplanes, Cars, and Bicycles alike?"
A: "They all have wheels."
This last case has proven somewhat controversial when retold, but the correct answer is 'They are all forms of transportation.' Several people are of the opinion that none of his answers would have changed had the test been administered a week earlier. I found the entire interview entertaining. Less entertaining was listening to he and his mother argue the entire day.
I call Tracy and she picked me up about an hour later, whereon we proceeded to sit on I66 for 2 hours trying to get home. A little 'Welcome Back' from the local traffic patterns.
I am trying to take it easy, and the only real complication is that my back is killing me from the spinal tap. The aftereffects have proven to be far more painful than the procedure itself.
That's the story, but rest assured that I am fine, or at least I feel fine. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to visit me while I was in ER. It's nice to have that many friends.
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