Trance-like state

The next two weeks passed by and I don't really know how to differentiate the days--they all just blur together. I was spending time working...and that's it apart from sleeping. I progressed from needing 10 hours of sleep per night (still a lot for me) to needing 14-15 hours of sleep just to kind-of make it through a shift at work; I'd come home from work and fall into bed until time to get up again the next day.

During this time, I noticed a gradual decline in my eyesight--I remember looking at my computer screen and asking my co-workers if it appeared blurry to them, too. I had to keep water on me at all times because my throat was so dry that I had to continuously sip on agua just to be able to speak. Something had to be done.

So I went to an urgent care facility one day on my lunch hour. The nice doctor did a little blood work and sent me to an optometrist--of course, right? Eyesight is failing--send her to an eye doctor.

My optometrist verified that my prescription was current, but also stated that my pupils were "minimally responsive." He didn't know what to do, so he sent me to a neurologist. And that guy took a lot of my money and said "it's not neurological...why don't you wait a while and just see what happens."

Ugh.

So, I waited. Lived in the blurred monotony that my life had become...until the day I woke up and my vision was completely shot. My ability to focus at all was gone. My pupils were hugely dilated and had become completely unresponsive. Panicking a little now, I was taken down to our primary doctor's office...but since it was a Saturday, my doctor wasn't there. The one I saw just threw up his hands and said he doesn't deal with the eyes and referred me to an opthalmologist the following Monday.

The opthalmologist I saw is a great physician--he took one look at my eyes, and having listened to my other symptoms (dry mouth, difficulty swallowing and digesting food, fatigue, etc.) declared that I had come into contact with some kind of toxin that I had gotten into both of my eyes that was paralyzing my ciliary muscle. GREAT! Finally someone who seems to know what's going on! We never could ID the culprit--some chemical, apparently, that I got on my hands and into my eyes. His advice: "wait it out. In 2 weeks, all should be well and you'll be as good as new."

So I waited.

Life comes at you fast...

No one ever expects to get sick..I mean really sick. Life was meant to be lived--to be experienced and to be enjoyed. I really enjoy living my life--from mountain hiking to rock climbing to scuba diving to white water rafting to jumping horses, I mean, I enjoy life.

So about 6 weeks ago, when I was at the beach with Danny's family sailing, I never imagined what would come next.

I did notice the dry mouth. So, I thought, maybe I'm dehydrated...it's only like 100 degrees out here with 100% humidity on the bay in Destin. So, I did what any responsible I-took-physiology-in-college grad would do: I went to Wal-Mart and bought more water, Propel, and Gatorade which I then drank religiously for the rest of the week. Little did I know that was the start of what has been, thus far, a 6 week miserable drought in my mouth and throat. Might as well just suck on cotton.

Well, on the first night I was there, Danny wanted to teach me how to "crab." Shoot, I like crab. :) Why, not? Well, most of you that know me know that I'm not a night-person. And, apparently, "crabbing" is a night sport. lol. We started out about 10:30pm and headed out onto the pier at the port--we were sailing his brother's boat and they were staying in campers near afore mentioned port. The water was shallow and we tied rotten, stinking chicken meat into this round, wire cage and dropped it in the water. They say the crabs should just wander in the cage and then you yank it up...well, we didn't have much luck, but I did manage to catch one. lol. I left early--I was really tired. Looking back, this should've been a red flag since I was good at staying up even though I don't, usually, but I assumed I had just gotten too hot that day. It was a long 45 minute drive back to the cottage I was staying at over in Panama City, so I cut out about 11:30 to head back...and I had to stop half way there and park on the side of the road to sleep for about an hour so I could make the rest of the drive. Thus began the insatiable fatigue that now haunts me.

That was the very first day that I remember any of my current symptoms being present. So I guess that's where the story starts...