Headaches and Nausea : Surprising Turn of Events

Well glory hallelujah and praise the Lord, the two doctors actually talked! I never thought that it could happen, but it did. And I was the one to bring up to the neurosurgeon here in S.D. the possibility of my stomach causing the headaches. Ha!

I awoke with yet another headache, nausea, vomiting episode one morning, and frankly, had had ENOUGH already! After having an amazing time with the ‘Elevate’ children, I just wanted to bag that day and request a repeat of Sunday. A friend left a comment on my status about ‘seeking a new adventure’. Forty minutes later I received the phone call from my neurosurgeon here in San Diego saying he talked to the one in Montana (and we had to beg).

My first appointment since the two doctors talked, they called it 'gastrointestinal migraines'. In the past, stomach medication really didnt do anything for me and migraine medication did nothing or exasperated the problem, sometimes helpign for only a short period of time before quitting.

My biggest fear now; when is the medication going to stop working, since so many have in the past. Holding on to faith that it won't. Hard

Be Still (*sigh*)

"Be still and know that I am God"
~Psalm 46:10

ANOTHER appointment with my neuro-surgeon on Monday. Hmph! Not like it's going to reveal anything (please excuse my cynicism).

Headaches, nausea, vomiting. This is what I have dealt with since early teens. Surgery, medications, different pillows, c-pap, elevating the head of the bed. I've tried it. Sure, it works for a little while. Short term solutions.
Over the years I've been steadily losing hope the doctors will ever find a permanent solution.

Upon reading the above verse, a still small voice inside of me promted me to do a search on the phrase "be still"
Exodus 14:14
The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Mark 4:39
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

Lord, calm this storm inside!

Psalm 83:1 (NKJV)
[ A Song. A Psalm of Asaph. ] Do not keep silent, O God!Do not hold Your peace, And do not be still, O God!
(All I seem to be getting from Him on this particular situation, silence. Lord, what is the lesson here?)



TODAY's DEVOTIONAL
"Be Still" I hear Him softly say
"Be still, lay all aside" (time out!)
He who made the universe stoops down
and gathers up my cares
(I am definately weary.....more like, DONE! Eleven years of college, it oud be nice to use it. To not depend so much on SSI.
"Be still" He chides again
His work begins within my weary soul
"Be patient. In quiet stay.
Listen to me" (Lord, I am listening!....or am I?)

Though pressed on every side
I clear my heart and mind
In timid voice and heart
I lift to Him my praise

How quiet His presence
How healing His words
In hushed awe, I listen
I savor each one

My will He bends (RA's Take My Will)
My heart He sweeps clean
My strength He renews My soul He fills to overflowing (PROMISE)

He teaches through His Word
I heed what He tells me
I stand and give Him praise
Together we go forth to serve

Shunt Valve Replacement

So my last dr. appointment I had an interesting development. My parents are downright convinced my shunt is causing all these problems. What with the headaches, nausea, vomioting I've been experiencing. I on the other hand, don't quite know WHAT to think anymore. I am quickly losing faith in anything we try. It only seems to be a temporary fix.

My neurosurgeon made a slight adjustment to the setting of my shunt (using a small magnet). The valve in my shunt controls how much cerebral spinal fluid is flowing in the brain. The MRI machine, because it uses a magnet, could mess with the setting just a bit, but the last time they did one the tech didn't think it necessary to do an xray to double-check (I should have said something, dang NOW I think of it!). My neurosurgeon made a slight adjustment anyway, even though it was only off by a tenth, but the slightest adjustment COULD make a difference with me, you just never know.

Three x-rays later as it took a bit to get my HEAD adjusted correctly so they could see the valve, aaaaand he has me in x-ray once again..... this time he is in there with me and the x-ray tech to make sure it is done exactly how he wants it, so that he can see the valve in question. After the final x-ray I look over as he is walking back into the room. He has a dumbfounded look on his face, and my jaw drops. He couldn't believe it, but the valve was broken. HOW that happened is a mystery to all of us. (I've bumped my head on occassion, but I didnt think anything that hard). I prayed the night before that we would find something, but don't think I was quite ready for the answer just yet.

A second appointment on 7-29-10 confirmed surgery. Unfortunately, a date not be set until a few weeks later. It seems that calling surgery scheduling they could only gurantee it woould be in the next six to eight weeks! WHAT?! No Way!!!!! Nuh-uh, NOT waiting that long, sorry! They said I could be placed on the cancellation list, if somoen's surgery just happened to be cancelled for any reason I could be up for that date. Whew! I did just that. Then it was a phonecall to my neurosurgeons office asking if he could do something to bump up the date. I didn't hear for two days. Another phonecall, and I left a voicemail. The next day I get a call from surgery scheduling. They could schedule my surgery for August 16th. Yes, I'll take it! HO but the two-week wait to get it done was going to be excruciating. I SO want to be done with the headaches already! ("I want it done...yesterday!")

What was originally going to be a 45 minute procedure under local anesthetic turned into a two-hour suergery under general anesthetic due to positioning me just right and I am sure other things too (My back and hiops just don't like to cooperate sometimes).

They gave me the sedative....aaaand thats the last thing I remember. No wheeling into the OR, getting me on the table, putting me underrr... nuthin'. They shot the sedative into the I.V and the room slowly started to spin. I'm smiling, LOL! Annnnd she OUT!
I remember waking up in recovery. I did not want to wake up. It felt good to sleep. I vaguely remeber being wheeled into my room.

Food was just mediocre, nuthin special. One of the reasons I couldn't wait to get out of there! Would you honestly feed your family that crap?! I immediately missed my cousins cooking.

The nurses were borderline annoying. Why did I bother giving the hospital a medication list? The nurses almost never got it right. Oh the right medications yes, but the wrong doses or times to be given. One nurse tried to refuse to give my heart meds. She said my bloodpressure was too low for me to take them. It took me four times to convince her they were not for my bloodpressure, they were for my tachycardia. And yes, my bloodpressure is a bit on the low side becasue of it, this we already knew. It is well monitored. (I think my bloodpressure was goinG UP at this point) When I was discharged later I foudn teh list, at home on my desk along with another paper I was supposed to give the hospital. Haha, Oops. Maybe I filled out another one for them. Shoot, I can't remeber.

Only took pain meds once while in the hospital, and after that it was 2 Ibuprofen before going to bed the night after surgery.

It has now been three days since surgery, and I have not been woken up by a headache.

GLORY!!!!!