Wednesday, August 24, 2005
JULY AND AUGUST....1996
Bear continued having the spells where the left side of his face would twitch and he was unable to talk. Some days were good and some were not. At times it would be so severe it alarmed both of us. We pursued medical help both at OMC West Plains and the hospital at Ft. Leonard Wood. His neurologist at West Plains had a TEE test run to see if there was anything in the throat or below that was causing it…….she was operating more or less on narrowing the field of possibilities to get to the bottom of the problem. She was as perplexed as we were.
The test came back “clear” and so we were left again with nothing positive to go on. He later took an EEG test which didn’t show any problem either. July turned to August and on the 7th he had a mild spell before supper and suffered terrible phantom pains in his stump all night. He finally got relief by morning.
On the 20th I went to the Fort with him for an appointment with an Army neurologist. As we sat in the waiting room I studied the other’s who were waiting. I wondered what their problems might be and how many might have terminal situations. I couldn’t get it out of my head that Bear’s condition was the result of a mild stroke. Finally we were called in and met with an older gentleman who looked overworked. It turned out he was a private physician and not related to the military at all. He came one day a week to see patients.
He looked over Bear’s records and did some basic tests……..he felt his problem was definitely focal seizures. He gave him medication to take 3-times a day. We had an appointment to come back. A few days later, Bear had an appointment with Dr. Applegate in West Plains and when he pulled into her driveway he had the worst seizure he’d experienced yet. He motioned to the receptionist for something to write on and scribbled that he was having a seizure, couldn’t talk and needed to see Dr. Applegate. She had an EEG ran immediately and I was glad she got to see a seizure in progress to have an idea of what we had been telling her. His speech was still slurred when I came home from work.
The following Sunday, our grandson Jonathan, (Becky’s boy) came to visit with his fiancé. She had been having leg and ankle pain for some time but had been told it was caused from all of the sports she was active in. After many failures to properly diagnose her problem it evolved into a rare cancer that only about 10-other people in the U.S. had. She was going the next day to have her lower right leg amputated. Jonathan was going with her and we wished them well. She had a great attitude and Bear certainly gave her a thumbs up……..he was an excellent example that life could go on after the loss of a leg. He was not deterred by anything he made up his mind to do.
August ended without any answers for the seizures Bear was having. There was nothing to do but keep appointments and hope someone could find something for us to go on. Our thoughts turned to Jonathan’s fiancé who was recovering from her amputation. It made our dilemma seem small at the time……………
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
The test came back “clear” and so we were left again with nothing positive to go on. He later took an EEG test which didn’t show any problem either. July turned to August and on the 7th he had a mild spell before supper and suffered terrible phantom pains in his stump all night. He finally got relief by morning.
On the 20th I went to the Fort with him for an appointment with an Army neurologist. As we sat in the waiting room I studied the other’s who were waiting. I wondered what their problems might be and how many might have terminal situations. I couldn’t get it out of my head that Bear’s condition was the result of a mild stroke. Finally we were called in and met with an older gentleman who looked overworked. It turned out he was a private physician and not related to the military at all. He came one day a week to see patients.
He looked over Bear’s records and did some basic tests……..he felt his problem was definitely focal seizures. He gave him medication to take 3-times a day. We had an appointment to come back. A few days later, Bear had an appointment with Dr. Applegate in West Plains and when he pulled into her driveway he had the worst seizure he’d experienced yet. He motioned to the receptionist for something to write on and scribbled that he was having a seizure, couldn’t talk and needed to see Dr. Applegate. She had an EEG ran immediately and I was glad she got to see a seizure in progress to have an idea of what we had been telling her. His speech was still slurred when I came home from work.
The following Sunday, our grandson Jonathan, (Becky’s boy) came to visit with his fiancé. She had been having leg and ankle pain for some time but had been told it was caused from all of the sports she was active in. After many failures to properly diagnose her problem it evolved into a rare cancer that only about 10-other people in the U.S. had. She was going the next day to have her lower right leg amputated. Jonathan was going with her and we wished them well. She had a great attitude and Bear certainly gave her a thumbs up……..he was an excellent example that life could go on after the loss of a leg. He was not deterred by anything he made up his mind to do.
August ended without any answers for the seizures Bear was having. There was nothing to do but keep appointments and hope someone could find something for us to go on. Our thoughts turned to Jonathan’s fiancé who was recovering from her amputation. It made our dilemma seem small at the time……………
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
