Bruce Vratisovsky FIGHT 4 U

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Here is Bruce's journey and what all he's gone through and endured thus far.

I would say my condition started at the beginning of 2017.  It all started with 21 days of chills that wouldn't go away, even after being in my sauna.  Two days after the chills began and for 19 days in a row, I would awake from my sleep with an excruciating headache coming from the back of my head, every morning at 3-4am.  The one day I called into work, I was so weak and so tired all I could do was sleep all day.  I literally had no energy to go to the doctor.  I ignored all those signs and didn't go to the doctor for the first time until Thursday February 2nd.  The very next day at work, my shoulders began to tingle, and my upper arms started to become numb. It was Super Bowl weekend, the pain started, with increased numbness.  The pain kept intensifying by feeling stabbing, burning, shooting, & sharp sensations throughout my upper arms.  During the weekend Tracy insisted on taking me to the hospital. I wanted to wait til Monday to hear the results from my Doctor, which I did not receive until Monday afternoon.  The Doctor's office feedback was to have another physician look over my chart/results, as they didn't know what was wrong with me and recommended I go to the hospital.  Tracy drove me to the hospital that day which was, Monday, February the 6th.  
The main reason for going to the hospital was for shoulder/arm pain, and come to find out, they diagnosed me with Mononucleosis (Mono).  They sent me home with pain medication, and a follow up with my primary physician.
As that week went on the pain also progressed immensely and I couldn't raise my arms as normal.   I then realized something serious was happening to my body.   For my follow up appointment my primary doc was not available, so I was scheduled with another physician on Friday Feb 10th.  I expressed my newly discovered issue to the Doctor and after her evaluation and reviewing test results, her suggestion was for me to be seen by a Neurologist.   During that weekend while waiting to have an MRI completed on Tuesday, I continued to lose more arm movements & increased pain, then things started to tumble downhill for me and very fast!!
After Tuesday's MRI, the next 3 days of pain, were the worst so far!  I tried to take a shower and I no longer could lift my arms to clean my hair and face. I have now lost the ability to do daily task and I have never been in such excruciating pain before in my life.  The pain continued on for about the next 8-10 weeks.   My Neurology appt. was scheduled on Feb 20th.  Tracy had demanded they need to see me now.  The soonest appt. was on Friday Feb 17th.  I was finally seen by a neurologist, and they diagnosed me as having BPN (Brachial Plexius Neuropathy).  Your Brachial Plexi nerves are the controls for your arms.  A neurologist performed an EMG and from those instant results, I was admitted to the hospital immediately to begin an IVIG treatment for the next 5 days.  
After the 5 day treatment, there was nothing more the hospital could do for me, despite not feeling any improvements.  On the day of release I was given 3 options of going to a nursing home, rehab care facility, or home.  Tracy & I discussed with my immune system being at high risk for infections, we agreed that the best option for me was to go home w/O.T. & P.T. coming to the house.  Tracy & I reached out to friends & family for assistance.
I was informed that it could be 18 months for recovery on Feb 18th, and that my immune system was out of wack, and that Brachial Plexopathy is an auto-immune disease which was triggered from Mono.


Stay tuned, more to come...
Bruce