The week before Christmas of 2021, I made a 14 hour road trip to my home state. Once I was home, I experienced fatigue and pain in my neck. I thought this was normal due to a diagnosis of acromegaly, addisons and cushings. I also had not had my medicine in months due to no insurance.
I continued to run errands and get ready for Christmas, and ended up vomiting while running errands. I didn’t think anything of it, aside from being exhausted. On Christmas Day, my family came to wake me up and I couldn’t move or talk. My family tried to set me up in bed, and I completely toppled over and crashed into the bedside table. The fire dept and ambulance arrived and took me to the hospital.
The last thing I remembered was being COVID tested and hearing I was positive. I was in a coma for a week, and when I came to I was told I had viral meningitis, asymptomatic Covid, an adrenal crisis and my potassium had crashed. I had also had a seizure in the ER. When I was discharged from the ER, I couldn’t walk, had little motor skills in my hands and could not talk correctly. I lost most control over my urination and excretion sense, and still deal with this.
It’s been three months and I still struggle with pain. On my days off I walk around hunched over because my neck and back are in so much pain. My arms are constantly sore and numb to where I can’t move them. I have little strength in my arms.
I learned at a follow up that I now have Chiara malformation from my brain swelling, and that causes intense neck and head pain. I’m hoping soon to be better, but it’s a constant mental health struggle to be in so much pain where nothing is able to help.
Morgan Stewart
March 2022