For about two years I've been not just tired, but my whole body has felt like it's moving in quicksand. I'd wake from seven or even ten hours of sleep and still feel like I needed a long winter's nap. I was given an "upper" by one of my physicians, but honestly, it only helped to take the edge off. I found myself taking longer and longer afternoon naps, regardless of how long I'd slept the night before.
The physician that gave me the "uppers" when they didn't work, suspected I had a sleep disorder (probably sleep apnea), so sent me for a sleep test. This involved an EEG while I slept. Upon getting the results, there was no episodes of obstructive sleep apnea nor central sleep apnea (where your brain"forgets" to send the signal to you lungs to breathe.)
Meanwhile, I had developed a strange, dibilitating headache at the back of my head. I mentioned it to my neurosurgeon at my yearly visit. I didn't expect much, since he's not a headache guy, but to my surprise, he took it seriously enough to to order an MRI. Two weeks later when I saw him for test follow-up he was befuddled. There was a build-up of cerebral spinal fluid within my brain, but he was unsure of the cause. Was it the shunt that was only put in three years ago now malfunctioning in some way, or was the build up due to a cerebral cyst I had developed after a car accident in 2003? He decided to consult with his fellow neurosurgeons and get back to me by the end of the week.
As the end of the week drew nigh and I had heard nothing, I e-mailed his office telling them the headache had now moved to the top of my head reminded (by it's nature) of the worst headache of my life. That headache was due to shunt failure. I was immediately contacted by his nurse and asked if I thought it was an emergency-no-thus I was scheduled for shunt replacement brain surgery the following Friday.
I was admitted to the hospital in the ICU unit. I had surgery Friday morning and spent until Saturday afternoon in ICU. I thought that strange, the last time, three years ago, when my shunt catheter broke, and it was more of an "emergency" I wasn't in ICU. I was more upset though that they shaved off even more of my hair than they had three years ago, and it took me two years to grow it back.
Two weeks later, at my follow-up appointment from the surgery I asked why did my surgeon think this shunt failed so soon? Was it damaged from my car accident? No he thought my abdominal cavity was having difficulty absorbing the daily pint of CSF my body makes. Of course that got me thinking, did that mean I was going to have to wear a little bag like a colostomy bag around with me for the rest of my life? Or is that me and my over-anxious mind? The thought of some little bag outside my body to collect brain fluid is more than I can handle.
The physician that gave me the "uppers" when they didn't work, suspected I had a sleep disorder (probably sleep apnea), so sent me for a sleep test. This involved an EEG while I slept. Upon getting the results, there was no episodes of obstructive sleep apnea nor central sleep apnea (where your brain"forgets" to send the signal to you lungs to breathe.)
Meanwhile, I had developed a strange, dibilitating headache at the back of my head. I mentioned it to my neurosurgeon at my yearly visit. I didn't expect much, since he's not a headache guy, but to my surprise, he took it seriously enough to to order an MRI. Two weeks later when I saw him for test follow-up he was befuddled. There was a build-up of cerebral spinal fluid within my brain, but he was unsure of the cause. Was it the shunt that was only put in three years ago now malfunctioning in some way, or was the build up due to a cerebral cyst I had developed after a car accident in 2003? He decided to consult with his fellow neurosurgeons and get back to me by the end of the week.
As the end of the week drew nigh and I had heard nothing, I e-mailed his office telling them the headache had now moved to the top of my head reminded (by it's nature) of the worst headache of my life. That headache was due to shunt failure. I was immediately contacted by his nurse and asked if I thought it was an emergency-no-thus I was scheduled for shunt replacement brain surgery the following Friday.
I was admitted to the hospital in the ICU unit. I had surgery Friday morning and spent until Saturday afternoon in ICU. I thought that strange, the last time, three years ago, when my shunt catheter broke, and it was more of an "emergency" I wasn't in ICU. I was more upset though that they shaved off even more of my hair than they had three years ago, and it took me two years to grow it back.
Two weeks later, at my follow-up appointment from the surgery I asked why did my surgeon think this shunt failed so soon? Was it damaged from my car accident? No he thought my abdominal cavity was having difficulty absorbing the daily pint of CSF my body makes. Of course that got me thinking, did that mean I was going to have to wear a little bag like a colostomy bag around with me for the rest of my life? Or is that me and my over-anxious mind? The thought of some little bag outside my body to collect brain fluid is more than I can handle.
