From the Arboretum to the E.R.

For starters, I would like to point out that I feel so behind on blogging and reading blogs. I fully intend to catch back up, but things keep happening. Things like this, for example...

Brandon and I had planned out a super busy weekend, but Sunday was going to be a relaxing day for us. We had planned on going to the arboretum in Dallas to see the pumpkin village, and then spending the rest of our Sunday at home. I'm sure you have already figured out that is not what transpired.

Sunday morning, Brandon let me sleep in while he got up with the baby.  I rolled out of bed at 10:00am feeling super rested. Then strolled into our kitchen on the hunt for a cup of coffee. I kissed and cuddled Presley and  looked up at Brandon expecting a kiss and instead he said, "the left side of my face isn't working". Attempting not to scream, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE LEFT SIDE OF YOUR FACE ISN'T WORKING", I calmly asked him to show me what he meant. Then I screamed, "OH MY GOSH, THE LEFT SIDE OF YOUR FACE ISN'T WORKING"!!!!!! Once we had both calmed down, he explained that when he went to pick up breakfast he tried to take a sip of his drink (through a straw), and couldn't do it. He drove home and looked in the mirror and knew something was very wrong.

His face was essentially paralyzed on the left side. He looked just like he had had a stroke. His eye wouldn't close all the way, his left cheek was drooping, as was the side of his mouth. I knew we needed to go to Urgent Care, but he managed to talk me out of it. He suggested going to the arboretum and then we would discuss what to do after that. I obliged for two reasons. One, I was terrified at what news we might be getting (brain tumor kept popping up while googling his symptoms). Two, we were meeting his Mom and I knew without a doubt she was not going to let Brandon get away with not being seen.

So, we made it to the Arboretum and got to see the incredible pumpkin village. All the while, I was feeling incredibly sick to my stomach. And just like I had figured, My mother in law told Brandon he was going to the doctor as soon as we got home. She watched Presley while we went to the Urgent care around the corner. Basically, because Brandon also had sky high blood pressure on top of the paralysis, the doctor told us it was either a stroke (very unlikely because of his age), a brain aneurysm, or Bells Palsy. Then he said we needed to head straight to the E.R. for a cat scan. I couldn't wrap my head around that this was actually happening, but I knew I needed to stay strong for Brandon.

1 EKG, 1 cat scan, and 3 hours later, we were sent home with a diagnosis of Bells Palsy. Thank you, God!!! If you don't know, it is temporary paralysis of one side of the face caused by an inflamed nerve behind the ear.  Anyone can get it, but it's pretty rare. This was great news for us. It'll take 2-3 weeks before the paralysis goes away, but that's small potatoes compared to what it could have been. So that was my weekend folks! How was everyone elses?
(I will post pictures from the arboretum in another blog post, unless something else crazy happens)