Falls into place. Falls into peices

Home sweet Embassy Suites Home!!!

Considering it has been some form of residence for my parents, Wes, or me for almost a week now.

I was spent Friday and Saturday night in the hospital and was discharged late afternoon on Sunday. Before being discharged Dr. Williams (my Neurologist)came by with the second set of CT scans. (if you remember the previous CT scan showed blood in the ventricles of the brain...not a good thing) The second set/series taken Sunday morning showed that the blood was dissipating and not getting any larger. So that is a good thing!!! On a sour note he did say there is a possibility that the blood may have clotted up/blocked the new shunt OMG!!!! NO WAY!!!! In the same breathe he also said that is appears that the bleed may be a little above the shunt. Aghh....only me people, only me...

So to be honest this has had me in a not so lovely mood.

As far as how I am feeling? Well do you want a sugar cookie answer or the truth?

Ha Ha...you know I am going to give you the truth.

I feel horrible. But hey, what do you expect? I just had brain surgery.

My symptoms and pain are still here....they left for a little while but then they came back....why?

I awoke from surgery on Friday and did not have a headache. I spent all day Saturday without a headache. Now, don't get me wrong my head hurt but it was a sore, hit your head on something kind of hurt. It was wonderful not to have the gorilla jumping, jackhammer headache that has been a constant with me since January.

Well that all went to shit pretty quick.

It started out slow but them came raging back quick as lightning. My old familiar friend headache. Yep, he showed back up on Sunday and has not left.

This really worries me. One sign/symptom of a shunt malfunction or blockage is a return of old symptoms. That combined with the blood in the ventricles does not help any.

Instead of wallowing in despair I took Wes's advice and called Dr. Dorai (my Neurosurgeon) to ask her about this and a few other questions.

#1- What was her opinion of the blood found in the ventricle?
She said that this was not something they expected to happen during surgery (only me right) when they took out the old shunt from the ventricle this caused trauma and that is why there was a bleed. She was however pleased with the results of the second CT scan that showed the bleed was not getting larger. To continue to monitor this, I am to have another CT scan done at home before my follow up visit with her on the 12th.

#2- I am having horrible pain still in my upper abdomen, like before just on the other side.
She really did not have a good answer for this one and to be honest its the only thing she has never really had a straight forward solution/answer for. She feels that it is the tube loose in the abdomen trying to find a place to "rest". Hmmm not what I wanted to hear but I will take the "lets give it time" answer for now.

#3 and most important- The headaches were gone for 2 1/2 days, now they are back.

This is why I love Dr. Dorai. She did not mince words, did not sugar coat it, did not brush it off. Basically, the blood in the ventricles may have caused the shunt to become blocked, I may need another revision aka...surgery. Before jumping into surgical options she wants to see what the ventricles look like on the CT scan. I would also need to have another shunt patency test (this is the test I had where they inject dye into the shunt and watch to see if there is any flow) Mostly she is hoping the headache goes away.
But she is realistic. She is not going to leave me high and dry. She has a plan.

So...... The conversation with Dr. Dorai was not exactly what I wanted to hear, but in my mind I knew that was what she was going to say. Once these horrible headaches came back after being gone for over two days, I knew something was not right.


Since Sunday night Wes and I have been staying at the hotel. Poor guy, I know he is going bananas! Thank goodness we have a two room suite so that I can sleep in one room and he can have the TV roaring in the other. Like always he has been wonderful through all of this. I am sure at times I drive him crazy but when I get upset about this whole situation he is right there to hold my hand or give me a big hug and that lets me know it will be ok.

Today we called my Neurologist Dr. Williams to see what his thoughts on things were and if he wanted to see me before we left Baltimore. He wants to see me next week when I come back for my post-op appointment with Dr.Dorai. He is very concerned about the returning headaches and most likely will try to schedule some testing for next Wednesday also. He will be in contact with Dr. Dorai in the next few days so they can get a "game plan" together. I should hear from him by the end of this week with more information.

I have an amazing team of Doctors, no doubt, all of that has finally fallen into place.

The problem now, is that I keep falling into pieces.