The medical adventure of Steph Doyle.
The past year I have been feeling like I’m losing my mind. I can’t find words and feel like I’m getting dumber. In November I had a bad “flu” or something like it, enough that I missed several days at school and went to Instacare. I took the Codone cough medicine each night and felt better after a week, except I continued to have a cough for 6 weeks. At this time I noticed my right ear felt clogged and I started hearing my heartbeat in my ear along with a whooshing sound.
AS someone who doesn’t get headaches, I wasn’t sure if having daily headaches was normal. They weren’t debilitating so I just dealt with them. My right face started to hurt and I felt around until I could figure out the cause and found that it was high in my right cheek, possibly a toothache? I went to my dentist and they did x-rays and found a dark area at the end of an existing root canal. She gave me an antibiotic for the abscessed tooth and a recommendation for a specialist. It was Christmas, so I spent the holidays traveling and didn’t get the specialist for a few weeks. They sent me to a specialist where I paid $200 for them to do the same x-rays and tell me the same results. Lame. I came back a few hours later and had a root canal on top of the previous root canal?
My face felt much better after the swelling went down. I’ve never had a root canal go so far up my cheek, almost near my eye! I still was experiencing headaches and the ear heartbeat with whooshing. I Googled the symptoms and everything I read said to see my doctor immediately. So I messaged my doctor with my symptoms and she scheduled a carotid artery ultrasound at IMC to see if there was anything to worry about. She assured me that because of my age and health that I shouldn’t be concerned.
The ultrasound doctor/tech (?) was a med student. He put the gel on my neck and ran the ultrasound wand up and down my carotid artery and behind my ear. The sound of the artery blood flow on the monitor was the sound I hear in my ear! They did both sides and his instructor came in and went over his work to make sure all was well. It was a quick and painless process and I went to visit mom on my way home. They are looking to see if my arteries were narrowing, which causes strokes.
The results came back that they were slightly narrowing, but nothing to be concerned about. But if I’m still struggling, we should meet with an ENT. So, I have an appointment February 28, 2024. It seems so far away!! My headaches are getting stronger and some days I feel like I shouldn’t be driving… but I still do because I have to live life…
For reference my headache pain scale is probably a 4-5 all day and then there are periods where it is 8-10. I feel like I have to hold my head together to stop it hurting and sometimes it feels like a vice on my temples squishing it together and then my right eyebrow and eye socket throb and I can’t function for a few minutes. So, I messaged my doctor that I’d like to meet to talk about my head.
She was out all week so she said to talk to one of the other providers at the West Jordan Clinic. So I scheduled an appointment with a PA. He was very attentive and asked a million questions. No my headache isn’t affected by light or position. I don’t get nauseated or see blinding lights. No numbness or tingling. No normal symptoms, so he ordered an MRI and said to get it done today (Wednesday Feb. 7) but they were full!
I made an appointment for Thursday Feb. 8 at 12:30pm to be able to go on my lunch break. IMC outsources their MRIs, so I scheduled with Tellica Imaging. It’s a $550 flat fee and they are fast! I was in and out in 45 minutes! I was back at school when my doctor called. He said that he was concerned with my results and talked to his friend, an ER doctor at IMC and was told that I should come in immediately to the ER at IMC, don’t drive myself, tell them at check-in that it’s urgent and I must be admitted immediately. Okay that doesn’t sound daunting. School was over, so I called Sandra and she said she’d take me… I drove home.
Sandra and I went to the ER and I checked in and said that I was told to inform them that I was to be admitted immediately and to say it was urgent. He asked what clinic sent me and I replied that it was West Jordan. “Oh yeah, we’ve been waiting for you”. They took my vitals and put in an IV. Then we waited for a room to open. Sandra and I just talked and laughed while waiting. I wasn’t feeling anxious, but just curious. Very upbeat. Of course, Doyles get funnier in stressful situations. The nurse tech called out my name and we followed her to room 35, with a sliding glass door and a curtain inside, the length of the window/door, to give privacy.
The next tech came in, a young man, and held up a gown to me and said, “Strip down” then just waited. What? So I took off my top and he look down and said, “bra and garments too”. Sandra is sitting right next to me looking just as shocked as me. Ha ha ha! So I did and just handed them to Sandra. I put on the gown and he said, “now take everything off”. Usually they hand you the gown and leave the room, but not this guy! So I climbed into the bed in my gown, sorry for mooning you Sandra! He hooked me up to a heart monitor, oxygen monitor and an other cord to my side. He asked if the IV was done here. Yep. He seemed confused and left. He popped back in to ask our relationship. Sandra said that we are friends, then I yelled, "we're lovers" s he left the room. 😂😅🤣
Sarah, my nurse came in and asked the same million questions about why I was here, “oh yes, I’ve heard about you”. Then the student doctor came in, Eleanor, a slouched tall Asian girl with a awkward bedside manner…but funny. She said everyone had heard about me and that they’d be doing another MRI, then asked me about my symptoms and I repeated them all for the 4th time today.
Sandra was good to listen and ask questions, but I also felt like I knew what was going on. She and I had decided it was a blood clot. Another tech came in and wheeled me to the MRI room, which is FREEZING! This MRI machine was much tighter than the one earlier. I layed down and they wedged my head in and then clamped a plastic box over my upper body, with a square opening over my face to breath, then the bed moves into the MRI machine, which is mere inches away from your face! They had asked me several times if I was claustrophobic before going in and now I see why! I was okay, but I could see how this would be difficult for people. I closed my eyes and breathed slowly imaging being asleep on a train (because that’s what it sounded like. I had tried to imagine a beach, but it was too LOUD and metallic for that image to work). The first round was 12 minutes, and then a 6 minute one, then one minute. She wheeled me back to my room where Sandra was texting Jared and my book club friends.
We waited awhile longer and then another tech came and took me in a wheelchair to get a CT scan – 3D imaging. They gave me iodine which burns hot through your body and makes you feel like you’re peeing your pants. Such a weird sensation! This scan was only 5 minutes. Sandra and I were both amazed at how fast everything was happening. People wait for so long for all these things and I was getting test after test and answers so quickly. The tech had me pee in a cup, just in case they needed it later. The doctor came in and said she’d heard all about me and that she’s been a doctor for a really long time and what I have is weird. Never seen it before.
Not exactly sure what order things happened next but…
The student doctor came in and said a lot of medical things and throwing out words like brain surgery and things. She is not great in her delivery. I looked at Sandra after she left, “she did say no to brain surgery, right?!” The doctor came in later and said that it is a blood clot and something else that she’s never seen before but explained that the neuroradiologist on call was reviewing my case and said that he can work with the dural arteriovenous fistula, it’s his specialty. (of course there were a lot of conversations here about what arteries are and veins and how they work and shouldn’t cross paths etc.). They cancelled the second MRI since they knew what it was now. I had been “fasting” in case they did surgery tonight.
The student doctor came in and said she had overheard some of the phone conversation and that I’d be sent home soon. That I’d meet with the neuroradiologist in a few weeks for some procedure and I might need blood thinners for the clot, but wasn’t sure and then asked if I had any questions. I asked if I could drive. She didn’t know. She said my situation was urgent but not emergent. She left to talk to the doctor. Sandra was unimpressed with her lack of concrete knowledge of situations before talking to the patient. Jeani showed up to hang out with us!
The doctor came in and explained that I since I have been living with this situation for months that she feels like I can drive and work. And that she wouldn’t be sending me home if she felt I was in danger. She said the neuroradiologist will call me tomorrow and make a plan for getting the Fistual and blood clot taken care of and how amazing everything worked out. She praised my doctor for being so proactive and sending me to IMC where the on call radiologist was able to read the MRI/CT scans and know what it was. I fully agreed! She said that everyone will be following my progress because they are all fascinated by it and thanked me for teaching her new things.
I changed back into my clothes and we left. We took a photo outside the emergency room, hugged and went home. My head still hurts. I can’t wait to get this procedure done to fix all this! It sounds like they’ll send a camera and other instruments through my femoral artery up to my brain and he’ll fix it that way. Outpatient procedure.
When I look over this whole experience, it’s truly miraculous. Every step was orchestrated by Heavenly Father. Each medical expert was in the right place at the right time. The issue was miraculously found by the one person who could even identify it. Every MRI and CT scan opened up for me to get the testing I needed in such a short amount of time in the ER – very very rare. I felt very peaceful and guided through the whole process and even Sandra being available in the middle of the day and no plans on a Thursday night for either of us. God is good.
