1st for Everything

Sunday started out with a very excited newly 5-year old little girl.  As is our tradition, we had cake for breakfast.  Thanks again, Kimberly:)  We got ready and made it to 9:00am church with moments to spare.  We quickly realized that Randy would spend the entire Sacrament meeting out in the hall with a very boisterous Ty.  The Youth speaker was amazing, the next speaker was wonderful, the musical number had me in tears.  It was going perfect after missing church so much this year.  However, my head started to feel quite weird.  I've had moments over the past 6 months where I get extremely dizzy, even while sitting down.  So, knowing that I was probably going to pass out, I got the heck out of the chapel.  The last time I passed out in the chapel, it was during the water prayer during the Sacrament during Ward Conference with us sitting on the row directly behind the Deacons.  To make matters worse, I was beached-whale pregnant with Brennon so it took SEVEN men to carry me out of there.  SEVEN!!!  I was so traumatized by that last incident, I bee-lined it to the doors.  I made it out just in time for Randy to catch me as I went down and had a seizure.  My body couldn't stop the convulsions, so an ambulance was called.  That's the first 1st!  I did NOT want an ambulance called.  It turned out to be a good thing.  More on that later.  So, here I am getting lifted onto a stretcher (only two arms instead of seven men!), actually getting strapped to the thing, and fed into the ambulance.  As we're pulling out of the parking lot- literally being jostled enough for the medic to need to hold the handle bars- he's telling me that he needs to start an IV to get meds into me to stop the convulsions before I had another seizure.  UM... EXCUSE ME?  Does he not know how stressed out I get having one put in when I'm laying on a bed in the hospital?  Not moving?  That's the second 1st!  Actually getting an IV put in while I'm riding in and ambulance on my way to the hospital.  Not my favorite.  We made it to the hospital, got hooked up to all of the machines, and waited for the results to come back.  However, in walks a cute little nurse with that wicked "blood work" cart.  The sight of that evil cart instantly made my hands sweat.  "The blood that was taken while on the ambulance didn't work."  Um... What blood?  I didn't know he'd taken blood.  That's the third 1st!  I had blood taken while in a moving vehicle.  Yikes.  So, this cute little nurse went straight to enemy of the year as she attempts to take my blood a second time; first time for her.  Then she was upgraded to Satan incarnate when she has to prick me a second time because she couldn't get the vain to cooperate the first time.  That's 3 pokes in an hour, folks.  Talk about seventh circle of hades!!  On Shelby's birthday no less!!  The results came back normal.  Of course they did!  The Dr. sent me in for a CT scan.  This is where the story gets good.  It turns out that I have a problem with my brain.  No jokes, please.  It's called Chiari Malformation.  To make a long story short, I don't have enough space at the back of my head/top of my spine for my brain.  All that reading has finally gotten too much:)  I'm not getting enough spinal fluid to my brain.  Or something like that.  I now know why I've been so dizzy.  I now know why I have been having vision problems.  I now know why I get dizzy even sitting down or simply turning my head too fast.  There are more symptoms that are starting to show up.  Some show up in adolescence, mine in adulthood.  I like to consider myself an adult!  I will be getting an EEG this week and talk to a neurologist about my condition and hopefully get more answers and meds.  For now, I'm trying to get past the fatigue and exhaustion of the past two days.  It's great to finally know that I do not have a brain tumor (what I've wondered for the past 6 months as more and more symptoms have come up) and that it's not life threatening.  So, with all of my 1st that I never wanted to EVER happen, I'm thankful for it just the same!  Here's to technology that allows me to start getting healthy again!!