ED Notes by Kristi, RN at 7/22/2026 7:51 AM

The other morning, I woke up and noticed the left side of my face felt… off. Within a short period of time, the entire left side of my face became weak. I couldn’t smile normally, my speech became slurred, and the left side of my face and body were numb. Brandon immediately jumped into action and headed to the ER. Within 3 minutes of arriving to the ER, they called a Stroke Alert and I became very popular. If you’ve never experienced that before, it’s surreal. In 5 minutes I was on a CT scanner bed suddenly surrounded by a team of doctors, nurses, neurology residents, CT techs… everyone moving incredibly fast. I had an emergency CT, CTA, MRI of both my brain and my pituitary, countless neurological exams, blood work, constant heart monitoring… the whole workup. For nearly 24 hours, no one could tell me exactly what was happening. My MRI even had findings that weren’t completely straightforward, so the neurology team wanted to keep me for a bit while they reviewed everything. In the end, the neurologists determined this was just a complex migraine. I’ve had migraines with crazy auras before but I’ve been migraine free for 2 years and this came out of no where. Apparently, complex migraines can cause facial paralysis, numbness, slurred speech, weakness, vision changes, and other neurological symptoms that can look almost identical to a stroke. The neurologist also made something very clear to me: We did exactly what we were supposed to do. There wasn’t anything I could have done differently at home to know it wasn’t a stroke. The symptoms were severe enough that they had to assume the worst until proven otherwise. That’s why they activated the stroke team immediately. So if you’re reading this and ever experience sudden facial drooping, weakness, numbness, trouble speaking, or vision changes… Please don’t try to diagnose yourself. Go to the ER. I’m incredibly thankful that this wasn’t a stroke. I’m thankful for the entire medical staff who took my symptoms seriously and took great care of me. As for 30 Days to Hot. I’m pressing pause for just a few days while I let my brain (literally) recover. We’ll pick back up soon. 💗🫶🏾