The Neurologist in Carson City

The smell of the rain circulating through the truck and the sound of it as it rhythmically splattered on the windshield sent me right to sleep on our way home from Carson City today. I dreamed that I was on a beach, comfortably sprawled in a hammock strung up beneath a tiki hut. The rhythm of the waves rolling in on the beach, and the fact that I was warm despite the rain, kept me asleep for quite some time.

I clung to the memory of the dream, especially when I woke up as Marv pulled into our driveway to the usual Fallon heat with my entire right leg asleep and my neck crooked at an awkward angle.

The drive to Carson City is about the same distance - or at least length of time - that it takes for one to drive to Reno. It just so happens that the neurologist my primary care doctor decided to send me to practices in Carson City. Initially, I was under the impression that Carson City may have been just a tiny bit closer. Not so much.

So I am now convinced that not only on this quest for answers in regards to my health will I eventually find these answers, I'm also convinced I will have traveled most of Northern Nevada on this quest. Bear with me, I'm trying to keep on the bright side of things.

My neurologist was very thorough, if a little short at first. But then, who wouldn't be short when your patient arrives ten minutes late because they got lost just up the street from your office? I was a little irritated, myself, because it wasn't until yesterday that I'd been informed that this appointment was merely a consult and not the EEG itself. I was hoping that we could get some of this done somewhere in a timely manner.

Regardless, the appointment went fairly well. We discussed what had happened, we discussed my family history. (Which reminds me, I need to send e-mails to my family in order to get a more detailed history of disorders in this regard. Previously, I'd only needed the big ones - diabetes, cancer, and mental disorders.) We also discussed my previous medical history and touched frequently on my past with migraines.

What the neurologist basically narrowed it down to was that it could have been a seizure, or it could have been a severe migraine. I bit my tongue a lot and need to do more research. After twelve years of dealing with migraines, there has always been a warning: auras, seeing spots, what have you. My warning signs have never changed, and this came and passed within a matter of five minutes (not counting the ten afterward until my mental faculties were completely under control again) with no warning whatsoever. So if it was a migraine, I'm concerned as to what has changed in my body that it came on so suddenly, severely, and without warning.

At the end of it all, I have been sent home - still without diagnosis - and am awaiting two tests. One is the EEG - they're going to call me to schedule. The other is an MRI of my head - I get to call Banner Churchill for that. The EEG will require yet another trip to Carson City. Which I don't think I'd mind now that I know - mostly - where I'm going.

Oh, and my driving privileges? Per Nevada state law, because my mental faculties were diminished for 15 minutes after the episode, I am not allowed to drive for three months. If I have made it through three months without an episode that causes me to lose consciousness or impairs my mental faculties for an extended period of time, I can drive again.

So I suppose my life over the next few months will be revolving around being dependent on others for help and only going as far as I can walk. It'll be good exercise, I'm sure.