The Joy of Six

So, six years ago today I nearly died from a massive blood clot in my spinal cord which ruptured, flooded my spine and caused all kinds of drama in my body and in the lives of the perplexed doctors in the ER that day. Uh-huh.

That picture up there is my favorite picture in the whole world. (Yes, really.) That picture saved my life. It is my actual MRI which showed the Neurologist all the missing pieces of the puzzle. Without that picture, I would have bled to death internally in the ER, never knowing what was wrong with me.

See the dark blob in my spine where the arrow is pointing? That was the blood clot. If you’d palmed the clot into a orb, it would have been the size of a golf ball, they told me. And that is HUGE.

(Eww, I know.)

Statistically, I should not be here. Statistically, blood clots in spinal cords are exceptionally rare, but the freak times they actually occur they almost always kill. And, if by some miracle they don’t kill, they always (ALWAYS) result in paralysis. Statistically, I wasn’t supposed to walk out of that hospital.

But I did.

My Neurologist calls me “Miracle” and says I’m famous in his universe. He excitedly shows me off, yelling, “you’ll never see anyone like this again! NEVER!” whenever he has students in his office.

I had spinal surgery six years ago today knowing at the time that I would either wake up paralyzed or not wake up at all. But, nope. I woke up in much better condition than anyone expected. Instead of paralysis, I ended up with nerve damage on my entire right side from my armpit down. But—eh—big deal.

What’s nerve damage like? Well, it’s a bizarre mixed bag, really. It means I have an extremely sensitive elbow which hurts A LOT whenever anything touches it, I have a numb (ish) foot, I have a numb (ish) leg, and I’m only ticklish on one side. It means that when I sit in a chair, I pretty much only feel half my ass there because I have a numb (ish) butt cheek. And it means I have a numb (ish) boob (nicknamed Beelzeboob! – *snicker*) which, oddly, refuses to stay put in my bra now and which I introduced to y’all way back in THIS TMI THURSDAY POST….


(Ahhhhhh, that picture never gets old!)

(But anyway….)

Bizarre boob and numb ass aside, I know I’m really, really, REALLY lucky. I know I’m lucky with every step I take. And so today, November 18th, is MY day. That’s right, I own it. So there.

*sticking out tongue*
I usually try to do something nice for myself every November 18th and, if I can swing it, I typically take the day off work. But since I’m not working right now (and, NOOOOO, shut it, I’m not being a bum! - Scope and I have agreed it will be best for me to wait on the whole job-hunting quest until after the holidays, ‘kay?), I can’t exactly take the day off work today, now can I? No.

So, Scope is going to take the day off instead!

*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!*

Scope is playing hooky with me today and has plans for the two of us which do not involve us leaving home, from what I’ve heard…. and…. uhhh…. hmm…. why the hell am I over here blogging?!…. ummm…. yeeeaaahhhh…. I.... uhh.... gotta go!.... :-)



© Coracabana