DETROIT – It was a question many Local 4 viewers asked: What happened to Ruth Spencer?
For two-and-a-half months last fall, the anchor and consumer reporter was off the air. Now, in an interview with Local 4's Dr. Frank McGeorge, Spencer is explaining what turned her life upside down.
It all started Oct. 23.
"When I woke up that morning, I had a change in my vision out of my left eye," Spencer said. "It was sort of as though I was looking through a forest fire haze."
Spencer said she thought she had gotten some face cream in her eye, but it bothered her so much as the day went on that she made an appointment to see an eye doctor the following day.
On her way home from work, she stopped at Party City to pick up goods for a gathering she was hosting for her "Ruth to the Rescue" volunteers.
"I'm going down the aisle looking at paper plates and paper cups and what not, and all of a sudden I start to see ... the view that I'm looking at is kind of crossing like that," Spencer said. "Some white flashlights, and that goes on for probably one-thousand one, one-thousand two, one-thousand three, lights out. That's it."
The next thing she remembers is waking up in an ambulance.
Spencer's daughter was away at college and her husband was in Florida, so he called some close friends to rush to Spencer's side at Beaumont Hospital until he could get back.
"They have more memory of what happened to me that night than I do," Spencer said. "One of my friends said, 'You were really pretty out of it. They were asking you questions that you should know the answers to.' Stuff like, I don't know, What month is this?"
It wasn't a stroke, but what was it?
"For the next two days and two nights, they run lots and lots of tests, CT scan, MRI, EEG, on and on and on. Everything you can imagine," Spencer said.
But after two days, she was released from the hospital without an answer. She would undergo follow-up tests and was told not to drive for six months.
One test revealed she had suffered a brief period of bradycardia, which is a slower than normal heart rate.
"I'm thinking great, I have bradycardia ... because I finally have an answer. It's like a relief," Spencer said.
But a 30-day heart monitor couldn't confirm it.
"The cardiologist says, 'Well, I'd like to be able to give you a 'eureka' diagnosis, but frankly, I don't have that for you. We know what it is not. We didn't see a brain tumor, it's not epilepsy, it's not something, a mini stroke, it's not this, it's not that, et cetera, et cetera," Spencer said.
Spencer said it was disheartening to learn that sometimes there isn't a clear answer.
"It's a mystery, and that I do not like," she said. "I didn't have the answer that I needed, and I feel like I need that answer because I'm a person who likes to be in control."
During her time off air, Spencer said she often thought about going back to work, but the the fear of passing out on live TV weighed heavily on her. But her bigger fear?
"That I could be driving a car and there could be a black out. I believe that I need to really carefully consider, am I going to be doing that if I don't have an answer," Spencer said.
She's back on air now and said she's incredibly touched by all of the concerns expressed by viewers.
"Going back to work was lovely, because I had all the things to read that people had sent and I heard from all the colleagues about all the phone calls," Spencer said. "Many people said, 'Just in case something is not right, just so you know, I'm praying for you.' Or, 'We're praying for you.' That means everything to me because I believe in prayer."
How will she live with the uncertainty of not having a clear diagnosis?
"Sometimes, stuff happens and you have to be grateful that it wasn't worse. You have to move on with your life and be brave," Spencer said.