February 28, 2026

Frightening, right?! I call it a jump scare, but my official MRI report calls it “Grossly Unremarkable.” It’s good news, but also slightly offensive. Grossly. Unremarkable. Cue the side-eye.

It started with sudden left hand tingling followed by whole arm numbness. I knew what that could mean, and I said out loud “we’re not doing this!” I asked Dr. Google his advice, and he said what I knew he would say. Call 911. Paul was at the grocery, but I screamed for him anyway because he’s my person. My scream was distorted, and I looked in the mirror to see the left side of my face drooping. “EMILY! EMILY, I NEED YOU!” Thank you Emily for getting the ambulance so quickly and for staying with me and for being my person when I really needed you.

All the stroke protocols with MRI and CT scan were started at the hospital. Can I just say that it was pretty amazing to be able to see my own results on my phone even if I didn’t really understand what they mean. But yeah, that MRI literally made me jump when I saw it. Not something I’d want to see coming at me in a dark alley. Thankfully, tests showed no hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke. Internal medicine leaned toward a diagnosis of a complex migraine, CM, that mimics stroke symptoms. I’ve had silent migraines with visual disturbances but no pain since Grace was a baby, so a CM could be a reasonable diagnosis. Neurology leaned toward transient ischemic attack, TIA, which is like an ischemic stroke that starts then thinks better and self-corrects without doing damage. I’ve also known about my irregular heartbeat called premature ventricular contractions, PVC, and my doctors recommended investigating that further with an echocardiogram since it had been a decade since that diagnosis. That’s when the hole in my heart was found. It’s called Patent Foramen Ovale, PFO, and it’s just a hole that everyone has at birth that usually closes up on its own, but sometimes doesn’t. But with the PFO, I had to have a venous duplex ultrasound, VDU, to check for deep vein thrombosis in my legs, DVT, which could travel north through my heart to my brain causing a stroke. Uugghh. I spent about 30 hours in the hospital before going home, then went back two days later when some of my symptoms returned. I still have slight dizziness sometimes, but that’s getting better, and will have a nerve conduction test to investigate the hand tingling that is now in both hands.

We’ve all been in the hospital ourselves or with a loved one, so we learn the medical-speak. But it’s amazing how expensive this alphabet soup can be. ECG, MRI, CT, TIA, CM, PVC, DVT, VDU, PFO.

Whether it’s the migraine or TIA, doesn’t really matter. They both put me at risk for stroke, so both are being managed. I now have a neurologist and a cardiologist. I wore a heart monitor for four weeks, and had a cardiac CT last Monday. I’m on meds. I might have a trans-esophageal echocardiogram to get a different view of my heart, and possible have the procedure to close the PFO. Maybe. Maybe not.

If you were one of my patients who had to be canceled during that hectic week in January, my apologies. If I haven’t already seen you by now, hopefully you’re soon in my schedule. Thanks to Andrea and Deanne for scrambling to handle my schedule so I could focus on me.

I’ve been well care for by people calling and texting to check up on me. I’m really just fine. There is more to learn about the CM/TIA question, but essentially it’s literally just all in my head. And with the heart stuff, I’m not stressing about it.

My family has been just the way you’d expect; I don’t like being on the sick-side of the equation, but they have loved me well through this. Thank you Paul, Emily, Grace, Eli, Harry, Lauren, Gavin, and Rebecca.

I can’t keep all the doctors straight, and even though I thought I was tracking along with all their jargon and explanations, so much of it is beyond me and I’ve surely misunderstood half of what they were telling me. I’m thankful for the technology and the expertise of doctors who looked deep inside the universe of my being to give me enough peace of mind to go home to get back to life as usual.

I know that I’m fortunate to say I didn’t have a stroke. Sometimes strokes are life changing or life ending. I don’t understand the way God throws direct hits at some people while others have near misses. I don’t take it for granted that on January 11th and since, the worst of my story is better than the best of some people’s stories. It is with my whole heart and mind, as imperfect as they are, that I pray for your health.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV): “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”. 

And for a little levity, here’s a pic of Harry wearing a mask of my jump scare MRI. Grace custom ordered it. This is how I remember that because of God, I can boldly laugh at what the enemy thought would frighten me.