Round three

We just got back from meeting with the neurosurgeon. He’s prescribing yet another round of steroids. Basically, my brain is having trouble dealing with the major changes caused by the procedure. He told us that the impact of the fistula was one of the most extensive he’d seen – a lot of veins in my brain were affected by it. He’s still pretty sure he got it all, but I’m going to have another arteriogram in six months to make sure.

My brain is having to deal with some major changes and it’s not happy. The steroids reduce the swelling which helps with the headaches. In the images he showed us, before and after, you could see a serious decrease in blood flow in the affected areas. The difference was drastic. I could also see the area that he glued.

If I’m still having headaches after the this third round, I’m going to schedule an appointment with a neurologist to develop a strategy to deal with the pain. He said it’s possible that I’ll be dealing with these for an extended period of time, possibly the rest of my life.

Today in the waiting room with all of the sounds, people talking, coughing, sneezing, phones ringing, etc. was nothing short of torture.

4 thoughts on “Round three”

  1. Hey Jake,
    Thanks for the newsletter. It’s good to keep track of you and of course all the brain stuff i fascinating.

    I don’t know if I told you, but my nephew has a brain tumor. Lucky for him it has been slow growing. He keeps all the news close to the vest. He’s been dealing with it for about 3 years now and is supposed to have surgery in the near future. He’s scared. So are we all.

    There’s been several “brain” related maladies in my family, unrelated, but it just makes me take notice when I hear of one. I think one of the reasons is that they are able to find and treat brain anomalies now. Still, messing with your head, not fun.

    Hope the headaches stop and you have peace and quiet so you can rest. I

    Deb

  2. Jake, I know you must be frustrated with the need for another round of steroids to say nothing about the continued headaches…..it sounds as if the Doctor is pleased with the procedure though so try to dwell on that. We all miss seeing you and I pray your headaches continue to diminish – sending love

    pat

  3. Hey Jake,
    Hang in there. I can’t imagine how you are dealing with the headaches. I must admit I whimp out with my usual allergy-headaches. Best wishes for some relief in the near future. I will keep checking in.–Bill

  4. You’ve got my sympathy for the headaches, Jake. Things like headaches (toothaches are another example) reside so close to where you live, it’s hard to put a protective distance between you and it. Good luck!

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