RPG names in MY brain surgery? It's more likely than you think!
I have been gone from the internet for quite some time. If you know me outside of the internet (and if you're reading this you most likely do), you probably know I suffer from pretty severe migraines. These often come on unprovoked, and can be accompanied by blindness and unstoppable bouts of nausea and vomiting. I've been seeing a neurologist for a few months regarding this, and on an MRI of my neck in May, something unusual was noted in my spine.
Apparently in my upper spine I have what's known as a syrinx. I don't know very well how to explain it, other than it is like a little hole in my spine, and is often an indicator of another issue. As a nurse, we are not trained very deeply in neurology, only the basics, so I found a little information for the curious here. All I could think was that the word syrinx sounded like the name of an alien race from a space RPG.
So anyway, my neurologist referred me to a neurosurgeon, and to make a long story short, I have a chiari malformation, a birth defect where my cerebellum in the back of my brain grew down too far and has been blocking the flow of my cerebral spinal fluid, causing intracranial hypertension and probably pushing on a nerve or two. I also found a little more information here. (And I mean, c'mon, chiari? That's just begging to be a name in the next Final Fantasy game!)
So this is where we are. My neurosurgeon is basically going to shave the back of my head, cut through the back of my skull and outer dura mater, lift my brain out of the way, and put a graft to make room for my brain/spinal fluid. I'll have to spend a night in ICU, and then a few more days in the hospital, and then at least a month out of work. They said the worst part will probably be the nausea and the neck pain. And that's pretty much it, in a nutshell. Well, I'm sure it's all a bit more complicated than that, but that's all my brain can handle right now (eheh, no pun intended).
The surgery is scheduled for August 24th at Piedmont in Atlanta. I'm scared out of my mind but I really trust Dr. Wray, and I'm trying hard to keep it together for my family and for Joe. I know he's scared too, and we really need each other right now.
All I ask is that if you're the praying type, send one my way, if you can. And if that's not your thing, some good vibes will do just fine. I love you guys.