I always knew I was “special.” Or at least that’s what they called it when I was a little kid. This morning, I learned that I might be special-er than I originally thought!
I went to the first of many doctors’ appointments this morning. This one was to the friendly neighborhood neurologist who did the usual test the reflexes, follow my finger with your eyes, push back, pull up tests on me. I’m good at those. Heck, I’m a pro! They’ve done those so many times on me in the last few months that even though I haven’t the foggiest idea what they’re actually looking for, I could probably give a rudimentary version of the neurological function exam myself. So after I followed, pushed, and pulled the doctor came to the following conclusion: I didn’t have a stroke or blow an aneurysm because, as he put it, if I had, I’d still be paralyzed in my lower extremeties and/or I’d be dead. This, I felt, was a good point to clarify. After all, since my trip to the ER last Sunday night I have frequently wondered whether I were dead or alive.
The doctor also suggested that I might have some kind of rare metabolic disorder which, for the time being, we will call “that disorder” since neither I, nor the doctor, has the slightest clue what the name of the disorder might be. Apparently there’s a metabolic disorder that is most commonly found in people who are from, or are directly descended from, the Pacific rim. There’s also a metabolic disorder that comes and goes and basically presents itself as about an hour to an hour and a half after eating, some systems go haywire and you experience extreme muscle fatigue and weakness. The problem was that these disorders are so rare that since my doctor started practicing medicine he has never diagnosed anyone with either. I wonder if I’m diagnosed with it if I would get to be the subject of a scientific paper … interesting. Or else I’ll just be labeled freak of nature. The other problem is that we don’t know if “that disorder” includes both sets of symptoms I’ve mentioned, in which case we do a test to find out if I’ve got it, or if the two sets of symptoms the doctor was talking about are for two completely separate disorders in which case it’s back to the drawing board. At the very least I now have an MRI (complete with prescription for one Valium) scheduled for later this week and hopefully that will tell us something.
In other news, last night I was highly domestic. I say this because I’m vaguely proud of myself. I made JJ and me dinner – chili and salad – and it was actually good. I even washed the dishes myself afterward. *beams with pride* This morning JJ, being the trooper that he is, got up for my 7:30 appt and drove me in, and then drove me to the department. On the way into the department he asked me for 3 bucks … for his breakfast. I don’t know why exactly but we both found this situation highly amusing. But his days of the 3 dollar allowance are about up … I hope he’s careful. He better not spend it all in one place!
And 2) the girl from the department has heard me mention my boyfriend and at some point JJ will probably end up accompanying me to a program event. If she got a good look at Scott she might also wonder, “Wait … that was a different … ” Walking into the game Scott and I also talked about how it was my first live football game. As I referred to it, I was, until yesterday, a football virgin. Scott looked at me in complete bewilderment and said, “Why am *I* the one who’s here with you?” After the game I came home, made some dinner and sat down to read for class and watch episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was nice.