No luck yet -- very long

So Monday morning I am getting dressed and my left side goes numb for about 15 seconds. Didn't fall or anything. Called my OB to see if it might be a post partum or stress thing. The nurse says to go straight to the ER. I drop my kids off at my sisters house and tell her I should be back soon. No such luck. We get to the ER and they do a chest x-ray, EKG, and 2 cat scans. The dye they had to use prevents me from nursing for 24 hours so I am miserable on top of being freaked out. They tell me that they are not sure if I had a TIA (mini stroke) or not so they want to admit me to the hospital. JOY!!!! I get there and they want to observe me overnight and possibly run some tests in the morning. First they ordered 15 vials of blood drawn and they also ordered an EEG, ECHO/Bubble study, Carotid sono, and MRI/MRA to start with. Then because they didn't have time to read all the reports, I got to stay another night. And to add to my misery, more dye that Corwin couldn't have so 24 more hours of pump and dump. In the morning, I was told I had a hole called a PFO between my left and right sides of the heart and if I cough or exert myself, I run a risk of clots jumping from one side to the other and having clots lodging in my brain causing another TIA or possibly a massive stroke. NICE! However, the doctor left without telling us any other info and so we were emotional and FREAKED out, until our fabulous nurse, Kimberley, explained what that all meant and helped calm us a bit. They order a Doppler study on my legs (those darn veins again!) and also a TEE (camera down the throat) Anyway, I am calm most of the day because I know that I am going to feed the baby and life will be normal again once these tests are run. The TEE involved a medication which would prevent me from nursing another 24 and I was about to lose it. So they told me I could try it without the sedation. Yes I know I am nuts. But this little guy needs me and I needed to be able to fed him -- I was a weepy mess when they wouldn't allow it. Anyway. The cardiologist says NOBODY does the TEE without the drugs but let me try it. And I made the nurse cry and such because I actually managed to do this procedure minus the Valium.

So now that you have the gory details, I will either have to have a life long treatment of cumidin (which means cold turkey the nursing) or a patch over the heart (which means I have to wean the baby but I have a few days to do it). The FDA recommends the cumidin until you have another stroke and then the patch. The cardiologist, neurologist and the admitting doctor all agree that the best course of action is the patch. So I am on aspirin therapy until they can convince the insurance to pay for the procedure, plus get the device to put in. He hopes to do the surgery next week. It involves a catheter being placed in the groin area and going up to the heart, where they patch the hole with a mesh that will prevent clots from crossing over. Eventually the heart grows around it. Anyway-- hope to know the details soon