AHA! Moments
I had completely forgotten about this blog until a few days ago when I wanted to post a comment to a friend's LJ and couldn't. Since AHA! moments don't come nearly as readily to me as they did before I had brain surgery and began dealing with seizures, this one came as quite a surprise. I suppose that now I have no excuse not to continue writing, if only for the practice.
Since my last post, I've had brain and eye surgery. As with most ACM patients, the craniectomy, duraplasty, and laminectomy provided some welcome relief from my symptoms. Crippling headaches no longer occur on a daily basis, making life infinitely more bearable; however, they did not disappear altogether as I had hoped. So on the days when a surprise attack of the pressure headaches sneaks up on me, I can do nothing but sleep them off -- the pain is simply too great even with the cornucopia of headache meds at my disposal. My balance is still terrible, and I would never pass a drunk driving test because I cannot walk a straight line heel to toe without falling over. While I can go UP stairs, coming DOWN is impossible as I have difficulty judging spatial distance. This problem also prevents me from driving at night. Eye surgery to help with the double vision did not solve the problem, so I am facing a second surgery in the future. I'm just not up for another one yet!
A few symptoms that work together -- nausea, dizziness, numbness in the right arm, the smell of something burning, and a brief loss of awareness -- became exacerbated after surgery. My neurosurgeon ordered an EEG which revealed scar tissue on the right parietal lobe, indicating that I had had seizures for a long time. Armed with a diagnosis of Seizure Disorder (the PC term for epilepsy) and equipped with the knowledge that I have partial (affecting only one side of the brain) complex (consciousness is impaired but not completely lost) seizures, I am now on the long road to finding just the right anti-seizure drug to keep them under control. Like the pressure headaches, a seizure knocks me out when it has ended. Thus on the really bad days, I spend a lot of time asleep. In the last 12 months, I have used Carbatrol, Topamax, Lamictal, Keppra, and now Dilantin to control the seizures. Thankfully, my neurologist is fantastic and remains in constant email communication with me so that I only have to see her when the symptoms change or worsen.
Because the ACM will never be completely under control (it's a degenerative disorder), I reduced my teaching load from four to two classes per semester in an effort to reduce the stress that triggers both headaches and seizures. Two classes is all that I need to keep my health insurance and since I am now classified as uninsurable because of a serious pre-existing condition, I've got to hang onto the coverage through my employment. We'd go bankrupt in no time if we had to pay full price for some of the meds that I take. So far, teaching two classes has proven quite manageable and far more enjoyable than four -- the mountains of papers to grade truly is little more than a molehill now!
Since my last post, I've had brain and eye surgery. As with most ACM patients, the craniectomy, duraplasty, and laminectomy provided some welcome relief from my symptoms. Crippling headaches no longer occur on a daily basis, making life infinitely more bearable; however, they did not disappear altogether as I had hoped. So on the days when a surprise attack of the pressure headaches sneaks up on me, I can do nothing but sleep them off -- the pain is simply too great even with the cornucopia of headache meds at my disposal. My balance is still terrible, and I would never pass a drunk driving test because I cannot walk a straight line heel to toe without falling over. While I can go UP stairs, coming DOWN is impossible as I have difficulty judging spatial distance. This problem also prevents me from driving at night. Eye surgery to help with the double vision did not solve the problem, so I am facing a second surgery in the future. I'm just not up for another one yet!
A few symptoms that work together -- nausea, dizziness, numbness in the right arm, the smell of something burning, and a brief loss of awareness -- became exacerbated after surgery. My neurosurgeon ordered an EEG which revealed scar tissue on the right parietal lobe, indicating that I had had seizures for a long time. Armed with a diagnosis of Seizure Disorder (the PC term for epilepsy) and equipped with the knowledge that I have partial (affecting only one side of the brain) complex (consciousness is impaired but not completely lost) seizures, I am now on the long road to finding just the right anti-seizure drug to keep them under control. Like the pressure headaches, a seizure knocks me out when it has ended. Thus on the really bad days, I spend a lot of time asleep. In the last 12 months, I have used Carbatrol, Topamax, Lamictal, Keppra, and now Dilantin to control the seizures. Thankfully, my neurologist is fantastic and remains in constant email communication with me so that I only have to see her when the symptoms change or worsen.
Because the ACM will never be completely under control (it's a degenerative disorder), I reduced my teaching load from four to two classes per semester in an effort to reduce the stress that triggers both headaches and seizures. Two classes is all that I need to keep my health insurance and since I am now classified as uninsurable because of a serious pre-existing condition, I've got to hang onto the coverage through my employment. We'd go bankrupt in no time if we had to pay full price for some of the meds that I take. So far, teaching two classes has proven quite manageable and far more enjoyable than four -- the mountains of papers to grade truly is little more than a molehill now!