The ball starts rolling.

It had started in L.A. with my shoulder and neck. It was a strange numbness that just slowly spread down my neck and shoulder into my arm and fingers. My girlfriends were concerned and nearly took me to the Emergency Room to get checked out while we were on our trip. I convinced that that it was nothing and that there was no need to ruin our trip with doctors and hospitals. "I'll go as soon as I get back to Utah," I reassured them.

As soon as I got back from L.A. after Spring Break, I called the doctor to get in. The strange spreading numbness was now accompanied by a very recognizable delirium. On my trip, I had attributed the delirium and exhaustion from late nights and heavy drinking. When the feeling never left me, I was worried. I was anxious to figure out what it was, and more importantly to make it go away.

The doctor got me in that Monday and she put me on some new antibiotics-- Prednisone-- to see if it could cut back on some inflammation if that’s what it was. She assumed it was a strange complications of the shingles I was sure I had before the trip. I had seen her before we left to get antibiotics for it. She scheduled an appointment for me to meet with the neurologist, but was only able to get me in on April 7, 2008. She said it would work for now. The date seemed way too far off to be comforting. It was March 24. April 7 was 2 weeks away! However, she told me that if it didn’t work, I was supposed to call her back on Wednesday.

It didn’t work.

The numbness spread into my leg, causing an uncomfortable limp as I attempted to walk with a leg that was essentially "asleep." It was only on my left side, but it was uncomfortable. I wanted it gone. I called the doctor back.

She went into motion immediately. Suddenly, my appointment with the neurologist was to take place on Monday, rather than the 7th of April. She called me back about 15 minutes later and told me that she wanted me to have an MRI that day. She asked if there was a specific time that worked best for me. I was at work, so either way I would have to leave. I was anxious to figure out why the left side of my body was "dying." She scheduled my MRI for 3:15 p.m that day. I called my parents' house to report what I had found out. My sister volunteered to go with me. Andrew had left that morning for Virginia for his Print Conference for school. I told her there was no need-- I had accompanied Andrew to many such appointments and they were uneventful-- she would have to stay in the waiting room anyway. She told me to call her if I changed my mind. I thanked her and told her I'd be fine.

I would be fine. I was sure it was just some sort of weird chemical imbalance or something nutritional-related, perhaps. It was nothing.

It had to be nothing.