Since I over-shared the stuff with Cyn.... update.... we were totally freaked out and stunned. It's a literally disastrous thing to hear from a doctor. There IS NO good outcome for the onset of neuropathy. It means, basically, nerve death and hers is not subtle. It's what diabetics get, and then those horrifying diseases like MS or ALS.... fawking terrifying, and the doctor's reaction as he discovered this in an otherwise very-healthy-seeming, active, fit woman did not help on bit. HE was freaking out. Anyway she fell asleep early on the couch from the stress of it, I headed out to the shop to reflect on mortality and how the world takes away what you love, and tie up some leaders (went ocean fishin yesterday)..... about 11 pm I got a text; she'd remembered that she had caught West Nile when it came through here about what, 17-18 years ago. She got it so bad that for several weeks she could hardly walk. It was like a light bulb going off. The main terror of the thing was UNEXPLAINED neuropathy. He kept asking her, didn't you feel ANY pain recently, tingling, sharp shooting electrical pains...? Because nerves don't die quietly.
Anyway the whole thing is way less terrifying now that there's a reason. It appears that West Nile killed a bunch of nerves in her legs, and she's adapted and learned to compensate since. For example, her balance is not good with her eyes closed (that's one of the tests he ran) because she can't really feel what's going on in the small leg muscles that tell us when we are tilting or whatever. But eyes open, she's fine. She hikes with her eyes open.
At any rate blood work is still pending but we are feeling so much better about it, words can't really describe.
