Guillain Barre Syndrome? What is that? I didn’t know either up until today. Today started off like any normal day waking up and getting ready for work. Little did I know today was going to be as far from normal as it can be. I work at Royal Bank as a banking advisor and I did not know when I left that for work that morning I would not return home that day. Today August 1st is the day my life change forever.
It all started around 1 PM when I noticed while I was sitting at my desk my hands felt weak and I had no strength in them. I was having trouble just holding my pen. At the time when this happened I told my team coach who happened to be sitting with me that day what was going on in case anything ever happened to me. My coach asked me if I was OK I told him yeah it’s probably nothing. I went back to work.
Later that day I had a scheduled meeting with my manager at 4pm at my desk. Just before my meeting I went for a quick break and I noticed that my legs were quite heavy while I was walking to the break room. At this point I knew this was weird and not normal and something was going on. I told my manager at this point what was going on and he told me to go to the hospital. I left work and took myself to the hospital.
When I arrived at the George Dumont Hospital in Moncton I got out of my car and at this point my legs felt like they weighed a tonne. I began walking from the parking lot to the hospital and I was literally walking like a penguin. My legs we’re extremely heavy and I was taking baby steps. When I got to the small set of stairs leading from the parking lot to the walkway to the front doors I almost fell going up them. It was at that moment that I knew something was seriously wrong.
When I finally got to the Emergency Department it wasn’t long at all before I seen somebody. The trauma nurse asked me what was going on and she immediately took me into trauma. Within the first 15 minutes of being there they immediately hooked me up and did a cardiogram. One of the main things they were looking for was for stroke. I had so many tests done from blood tests, CT scans, numerous MRI’s and the doctors were no closer to finding out what was going on with me.
While I was in trauma I knew that I needed to find out for myself what was wrong with me. Within the first hour to two of being there I discovered Guillain Barre Syndrome also known as GBS. I knew right away that was what I had. When the doctor came in I told him that I believe I have Guillain Barre Syndrome. The doctor immediately told me no and that I don’t have all the symptoms for it. I told him yes I do and that everything points to this right now. He told me once again that no it’s not that.
I know doctors don’t like being told by the patient what they think it is but I knew with almost 100% certainty that that’s what I had. I worked in management for most of my life and problem-solving is one of the major things you do and I was good at it. I loved figuring out answers to a wide variety of problems. I once diagnosed my wife with a pheochromocytoma which is a rare tumor on the adrenal gland. She was hospitalized for a week and doctors had no idea what was going on with her. I informed them to do an MRI of the adrenal gland and sure enough that’s what she had. I knew that I was right on what I had and that I had to push further with the doctors as my health was declining fast. The doctor came in again we spoke about it but again was not open to the possibility that I very well could have Guillain Barre Syndrome. I knew that I had to keep at them. All that I knew at this point was that I was staying the night in trauma with no diagnosis or treatment in sight.
It was shortly before midnight and I had to go to washroom and I got out of bed. I couldn’t believe how weak and unstable I was. I was getting weaker and weaker by the minute. When I was walking down the hallway to the washroom that felt like miles away I was walking so slow. I’ve never been scared of falling in my life up until now. With every step I took forward I felt like I was going to fall. I almost did many times but I stayed close to the wall and tried to hold onto the handrail. I knew by the time I got to the washroom that I shouldn’t have went by myself. At this point I basically lost my hands I didn’t even know how I was gonna open the door but I managed somehow. When I got into the washroom I managed to undo my belt and I noticed at this moment I had lost my fingers. I couldn’t move them. I sat there thinking how am I going to hook my belt back up. I tried and tried but couldn’t. I had to try I hold my pants up while I walked back to trauma. I managed to get back to my bed and I realized how bad things were getting. All I was thinking in my head was all this time I could have been getting treatment instead my mobility and health continued to decline. I knew I wasn’t going to sleep much but hopefully i’ll have some answers tomorrow. How does a person sleep when they know just how bad things are getting? Lots of things start going through your mind but I just try to stay positive and hope that I’ll get answers and results tomorrow. We’ll see.
2 replies on “The Day Guillain Barre Syndrome Changed My Life Forever!”
We lived in South Africa. My husband also has GBS 10 years ago. He was also totally paralyzed. He go sleeping not feeling well. Next morning he couldn’t use his hands and his legs. Was also indused coma. After four months he still was paralyzed when we go home. After 2.5 years he start warking with crutches. After 10 yrs he can walk… loses 50% of his hand use and his legs from toes to knees very weak but he is still going strong. We support so many people here in SA.
Wow, your husband had it bad as well. It happens so quick with GBS. He sounds like quite the fighter. Happy to hear he’s walking and continuing to keep going strong. Nothing keeps a good man down. 🙂 Proud of him, despite the struggles he kept going on. It says a lot about him.