Those of you who have been with me for a while, bear with this "Cliff's Notes" paragraph that is forthcoming but trust me when I say I've gotten very good at telling this story in very short order.
Back in December I experienced a pretty significant non-traumatic, spontaneous brain hemorrhage called a subarachnoid bleed. I'm pretty lucky to be alive and even luckier that I'm alive with no long term disorders or disabilities other than a pretty nasty ringing in my left ear and an unceasing headache that has never left me. Had some vision problems early on that have resolved (damned double vision!) and even had some early problems with walking and coordination but, again, those problems have disappeared. I've returned to work and pretty much live a normal life but the headaches are wearing me out. I've been working with a couple really EXCELLENT neurologists who have taken a very conservative "drug therapy" route and I've been on 3 or 4 different meds since my hospital discharge on Christmas Day. Most of them make me pretty loopy and weird which was fine when I was home recovering but it's not great when I'm trying to work and carry on with day to day activities. I also have chronic swelling of my optic nerve (called papilledema) and since I've had some recent vision changes my docs want to be sure I'm not at risk for this condition called pseudotumor cerebri. Technically, I don't fit the classic profile for this type of patient, but then again there aren't a lot of 40 year old women who spontaneously hemorrhage for no apparent reason and live to tell about it either. I'm not your typical patient, I guess.
One of my neurologists, who is also something of a friend, finally said to me last week "When are you going to give up on this chemical warfare you're waging and just give in to the spinal tap?" No, no, not this kind of Spinal Tap:
The kind of spinal tap where a needle is inserted into the spinal column and a little of the spinal fluid is drawn out to relieve some of the pressure in the subarachnoid space and it's analyzed for various other conditions or problems. Essentially, my friend thinks that I've just got too much fluid in there, it's causing unrelenting pressure within the system, it's not resorbing on its own, has nowhere to go and so he wants to give it a little help.
Thursday afternoon I go in for a pre-procedure MRI of my brain and then next Thursday (the 22nd) it's off to the doctor at 8 a.m. for the spinal tap. I guess the post-procedure headache is pretty bad (MUCH worse than what I'm dealing with already) so I'm ready to be a real mess when it's all over. Not sure if I'll be able to go back to work on Friday or not -- I'll see how I feel, I guess.
I had really hoped to avoid this, dear Readers, but after 6 months of eating pills and not feeling any better I think it's time to take a more aggressive approach. I realized the other day that I don't even remember how it feels NOT to have a headache anymore. It's just a constant part of my reality. Yuck.
I'm really not a crybaby and I'd like to think I'm a pretty tough cookie. I go to work everyday, smile, provide good care to my patients and do my best to deal with the pain. I'm hoping that this will get me over the plateau and put me back on track towards a more complete recovery. If it doesn't work, well, then I guess I will have tried, won't I? I suppose if the only souvenirs I'm left with following the ordeal of a subarachnoid hemorrhage are a headache and some ringing in my left ear, then I'll be happy to live with that because the alternative (um, like DEATH!!) is just not on my to-do list at the moment. If any of you REAAALLLLLY want to know more about lumbar punctures and just can't sleep tonight until you do, go here.
So tomorrow I'll need to stop by my piercing shop and have a glass retainer put in my new industrial so the metal artifact is taken out of the MRI scan. I promised my neurologist I would take out ALL the earrings and not just the ones that are easy to get out. Time to enlist professional help to get the ball capture rings and barbells out.
I'm not claustrophobic so I don't mind going through the tube but it's still not a great thrill. Thankfully, I have a lovely and most wonderful friend who's promised me a martini or two afterward so there's always that to look forward to. You know who you are, my dear. Thank you.....
Anyway, another long and blathering (boring?) entry from the dee-meister. Not nearly as entertaining as the silly parade pictures but it makes me feel better none the less. Typing therapy has its value.
Addendum 11:20 p.m. -- Anybody else having trouble with their comment counter? Mine says "3" right now but there are already five of you who have made comments. It was the same problem last night too. Hmmmpfff.
Back in December I experienced a pretty significant non-traumatic, spontaneous brain hemorrhage called a subarachnoid bleed. I'm pretty lucky to be alive and even luckier that I'm alive with no long term disorders or disabilities other than a pretty nasty ringing in my left ear and an unceasing headache that has never left me. Had some vision problems early on that have resolved (damned double vision!) and even had some early problems with walking and coordination but, again, those problems have disappeared. I've returned to work and pretty much live a normal life but the headaches are wearing me out. I've been working with a couple really EXCELLENT neurologists who have taken a very conservative "drug therapy" route and I've been on 3 or 4 different meds since my hospital discharge on Christmas Day. Most of them make me pretty loopy and weird which was fine when I was home recovering but it's not great when I'm trying to work and carry on with day to day activities. I also have chronic swelling of my optic nerve (called papilledema) and since I've had some recent vision changes my docs want to be sure I'm not at risk for this condition called pseudotumor cerebri. Technically, I don't fit the classic profile for this type of patient, but then again there aren't a lot of 40 year old women who spontaneously hemorrhage for no apparent reason and live to tell about it either. I'm not your typical patient, I guess.
One of my neurologists, who is also something of a friend, finally said to me last week "When are you going to give up on this chemical warfare you're waging and just give in to the spinal tap?" No, no, not this kind of Spinal Tap:
The kind of spinal tap where a needle is inserted into the spinal column and a little of the spinal fluid is drawn out to relieve some of the pressure in the subarachnoid space and it's analyzed for various other conditions or problems. Essentially, my friend thinks that I've just got too much fluid in there, it's causing unrelenting pressure within the system, it's not resorbing on its own, has nowhere to go and so he wants to give it a little help.
Thursday afternoon I go in for a pre-procedure MRI of my brain and then next Thursday (the 22nd) it's off to the doctor at 8 a.m. for the spinal tap. I guess the post-procedure headache is pretty bad (MUCH worse than what I'm dealing with already) so I'm ready to be a real mess when it's all over. Not sure if I'll be able to go back to work on Friday or not -- I'll see how I feel, I guess.
I had really hoped to avoid this, dear Readers, but after 6 months of eating pills and not feeling any better I think it's time to take a more aggressive approach. I realized the other day that I don't even remember how it feels NOT to have a headache anymore. It's just a constant part of my reality. Yuck.
I'm really not a crybaby and I'd like to think I'm a pretty tough cookie. I go to work everyday, smile, provide good care to my patients and do my best to deal with the pain. I'm hoping that this will get me over the plateau and put me back on track towards a more complete recovery. If it doesn't work, well, then I guess I will have tried, won't I? I suppose if the only souvenirs I'm left with following the ordeal of a subarachnoid hemorrhage are a headache and some ringing in my left ear, then I'll be happy to live with that because the alternative (um, like DEATH!!) is just not on my to-do list at the moment. If any of you REAAALLLLLY want to know more about lumbar punctures and just can't sleep tonight until you do, go here.So tomorrow I'll need to stop by my piercing shop and have a glass retainer put in my new industrial so the metal artifact is taken out of the MRI scan. I promised my neurologist I would take out ALL the earrings and not just the ones that are easy to get out. Time to enlist professional help to get the ball capture rings and barbells out.
I'm not claustrophobic so I don't mind going through the tube but it's still not a great thrill. Thankfully, I have a lovely and most wonderful friend who's promised me a martini or two afterward so there's always that to look forward to. You know who you are, my dear. Thank you..... Anyway, another long and blathering (boring?) entry from the dee-meister. Not nearly as entertaining as the silly parade pictures but it makes me feel better none the less. Typing therapy has its value.
Addendum 11:20 p.m. -- Anybody else having trouble with their comment counter? Mine says "3" right now but there are already five of you who have made comments. It was the same problem last night too. Hmmmpfff.
VIEW 25 of 25 COMMENTS
zode:
hope things work out for you...
batattak:
Holy crapamoley!!! Well all I know is that my Mom had a spinal tap to do basically the same thing a long tme ago and it was a life saver - figuratively and literally.