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| There is a plaster splint under there... |
Oh what a night! I woke up at 1:30am this morning to use the bathroom, and I noticed right away that I did not have great mobility in my left hand. After using the bathroom, I went to the kitchen to grab a drink of water and couldn't grip the water bottle. I figured I must have slept funny on my arm and went back to bed. Something similar has happened when I've woken up in the past, but the sensation has been pins and needles or numbness in my left hand, never loss of use. I went back to bed figuring it would go away by the time I woke up in the morning. Julien came into my bed at 3am and woke me up. My hand was still not working right. So I went downstairs and Googled some stuff. I started to get anxious because I thought maybe I had a mini stroke and there was a 4.5 hour of opportunity to get treated at Emergency. So I got dressed and drove myself to the hospital around 4am.
I got hooked up to a heart monitor right away and blood work was drawn. The doctor did some strength tests on me and felt pretty strongly that I did not have a stroke. After the blood tests came back, he came and told me that I did not have a stroke but did possibly pinch or bruise a nerve in my sleep. So he splint my arm and I have to go to see the orthopedic surgeon on Friday. Now I've had all day to think about this. I remember back in September after I broke my ankle that I had a numbness in my left arm that lasted for a few days, then went away on it's own. I have also woken up several times with my left arm numb, but feeling would come back once I started moving around. But loss of use has never happened before until this morning.
When I was morbidly obese, I used to sleep on my stomach and I would tuck my left arm under me when I slept. It went numb a lot back in the day. Not sure if I caused nerve damage by doing that. Because I have some use of my hand, and the nature of the paralysis (if it's hanging down, I can't lift it up, but I can grip and pull down), the doctor's certain it is a damaged nerve. So weird the way it happened. I was just sleeping!!!!!
I do have another experience with random paralysis that happened in my sleep before. When I was 16, I woke up with the right side of my face paralyzed. I was admitted to The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto for a week where they ran a bunch of tests on me. Initially they thought I could have had a stroke because not only was my face paralyzed, but I had limited mobility in my right arm as well. I was eventually diagnosed with Bell's Palsy. The Bell's Palsy hung around for 4 months before going away just like it came, in the night. I just woke up one day completely normal again.
Although the doctor at the ER assured me that I would regain mobility of my hand in time, it could be as long as months. He also said it come back on it's own in days. Even if it does come back in days, I still have to go to the orthopedic surgeon so he can determine how bad the nerve damage is. Not a horrible scenario, but I haven't been out of my leg cast for three months yet, and here I am splinted up again! My silver lining? This affects my running...not at all! My hand is in zero pain. It's splint to prevent any further damage.
Today was my long run day. It was pretty brutal. Not because of the splint. The splint was no problem. I was groggy and tired due to being in the ER from 4-7 am. I rested at home for a couple of hours on my couch, but never actually went to sleep. So the 10K I ran this afternoon was not my best run. And my toes cramped on my left foot for the first time post broken ankle. Now I remember what Morton's Neuroma feels like! Bottom line is I gotter done with no excuses!
Not looking forward to the rest of my running week. Tomorrow is my rest day, Tuesday is supposed to be -33 with the windchill and Thursday is hill repeats. I may actually do my hill repeats in the evening. The hill I use is on the McMaster campus and I'm not sure I'd feel safe running that hill alone at 5am in the morning. There's always more traffic in the evening because of night classes. I bid you all goodnight. I am beat. I've been up since 3am, and didn't have a solid sleep prior to then. I'm giving this one quick read over before hitting publish, so I apologize if there are lots of typos!
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| Top left: Getting ready to leave for my run. Bottom left: Just back from my brutal run. Right: Not my best pace, but I did it!!! |