As many of you know, I had another stroke at the end of March.

After a brief stay in the hospital, I was released on Easter Sunday and was well on the road to recovery. Two weeks later, I was back to work and feeling stronger every day.

I was following up on the aftercare doctor visits when I met the cardiologist that was responsible for prescribing my blood pressure medication. It only took five doses til the first signs of a reaction showed up. My left hand and wrist became painfully swollen. Then, at 4 a.m. I fell in the bathroom after very nearly passing out from lightheadedness. That fall also made my right foot and ankle as swollen and painful as my wrist. That led to my needing a cane to walk as I had a couple pet sit visits to tend to. By that evening, my right wrist was worse than the left and uncle-dan had to solo the visit.

This picture gives a general idea of the level of puffiness. My knuckles were invisible and my fingers couldn't bend without screaming at me.

First thing that Monday morning, we called the cardiologist to tell him the situation.

He said stop taking the med. (Duh... I already had after the fall.) He offered to prescribe a different med, which I declined at least til this reaction had been resolved. He didn't tell me to come in so he could see what was going on or even suggest I go to the ER to get checked out. He couldn't back away fast enough from me. Jerk. (For the record, he's fired and I have an appointment with a new doc soon.)

At that point, I called for an appointment with my primary care nurse practitioner. She was so concerned about the swelling, she made me go to the ER to check for blood clots - just to be safe. Still nothing to address the allergic reaction. After 10 hours in the ER, three X-rays, one ultra sound, a CT scan and a bag of fluids for dehydration, I was given an all clear for blood clots. Still no treatment for the reaction. As a matter of fact, the marathon ER visit rendered me totally 'locked up' the next day. I needed a walker to get around and couldn't even get up without assistance. It was so bad I taught myself to pee standing up, because I wouldn't be able to get up once I sat. Not a skill I'd imagined I'd ever acquire.

A week later, I had regained enough mobility to handle a car ride for another visit to primary care. Finally, I was prescribed a six day course of prednisone to tackle the allergy symptoms. That did the trick! I can now see all of my knuckles, and all the pain is gone except for a bit of residual stiffness in my left ring finger.

I re-started my therapy sessions today, too. One of my homework assignments is typing, so I hope to get back to posting on a more regular basis. Fingers crossed... and thrilled that's actually possible again!