Last week, I had a rather inconvenient lower gatsro-intenstinal virus. It wan’t the worst I\ve ever had. It was pretty much gone in 3 days, and then turned into a headcold. By Tuesday of this week, I was pretty much beter.

Then came Wednesday morning. I woke up with numbness in my fingers, in my lips and in my tongue. I thought I had pinched a nerve in my neck. I had a dentist appointment Wednesday morning, and mentioned it to my dentist, and she recomended I see my doctor. I decided to make a chiropractor appointment for that evening. During the afternoon, the numbness began to creep up my hands, and started to affect my legs. I went to Chiropractor, but that didn’t help. After dinner, I took myself into the Convenience Care clinic, and though they couldn’t find anything wrong, they told me that if it persisted, or got worse, I should take myself into the emergency room.

By 4 AM Thursday, most of my face was numb, as were my hands and legs. I took myself into the ER. It’s a good thing I did. They did a head CT and blood tests, which came up with nothing. They then did an LP (Lumbar Puncture) which showed some abnormalities. At this point, they started discussion two posible diagnoses: Guillan Barre Syndrome and MS. I didn\t know much about the former, but the posibility of the second scared the bejesus out of me.

At that point they admitted me to the hospital and got me right in for an MRI on my head and neck. We didn’t get the results of the MRI for a few very tense hours. The verdict was that it was unlikely to be MS, but likely to be Guillan Barre. The good news is that there is a treatment for Guillan Barre, and I am now on it. The bad news is that the treatment doesn’t always work, and provides differing results by patient.

I’m writing this update from the Critical Care Center in the hospital where I will be until at least Monday. I still have little feeling in my fingers and legs and face / tongue, and my vision inside a couple of feet is all blurry. I can see to watch TV (and I’m writing this via a wireless keyboard hooked up to the TV). I apologize for any typos. It’s hard to type with numb fingers and an O2 sensor attached to my little finger.

I don’t have a recovery prognosis yet, but I am hopig that since my symptoms have stabilized over the past 24 hours, that they won’t get any worse. Recovery times can vary from 3 weeks to 3 years. I’m obviously hoping for the former. Though I am frustrated right now with being sick (again), my spirits are pretty good. The nurses are great and are doing everything they can to get me back up on my feet as soon as possible.