Marcia Wold

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While on vacation in Alaska my mom had stroke like symptoms and was airlifted from Denali to Anchorage.  She was hospitalized from June 15 - 18 where they ruled out stroke and put her on an anti-seizure medication, Keppra.  While in Alaska she had a CT Scan, numerous MRIs, was tested for encephalitis, and had a spinal tap to test for meningitis.  She was able to fly home and even though she was tired she was doing well.  When she returned to Glenwood she saw a doctor and was referred to a Neurologist after the Fourth of July.


On June 29th my mom had stroke like symptoms again and was hospitalized in Glenwood.  They did a CT Scan and MRIs and nothing pointed to a stroke.  They also doubled her anti-seizure medication hoping that was the problem.


The next day we transported her to St. Marys/Mayo Clinic in Rochester.  While there they again did a CT Scan, MRI, Spinal Tap and again nothing pointed to a stroke even though she had stroke like symptoms.  They did an EKG (heart) and everything looked fine.  They did an EEG (brain) and even though they had doubled her anti-seizure medication she continued to have Epileptic Seizure Activity.  Her type of seizures aren't the typical kind where the body physically shakes but the type where she dazes off into space.  I apologize to my friends in the medical community for my lack of correct terminology ;)


On Sunday, July 2nd it was decided to put my mom on a steroid for inflammation, Methylprednisolone.  It is used in the treatment of auto immune diseases.  She would be given it for 5 days and if she got better they were assuming this would be the cause of her issues.


It is now Thursday, July 6 and she is on day 5 of treatment and doing much better, the doctors estimate she is at 60%.  She still has language difficulties but physically she is great.  She is still somewhat confused but can carry on a conversation and can actually name family members. The plan is for her to be evaluated one last time by her team of doctors tonight and then be discharged.  She will be going home to Glenwood and will be given the same steroid at an infusion center once a week for 5 weeks.  After her treatment is completed she will go back to Mayo to meet with an Epilepsy and Auto Immune specialist to look further into her issues and the source.


The team of doctors and nurses at Mayo continue to impress us with their care and determination to find the cause of my mom's illness.