a diploma and a diagnosis
good news first. i finally got my diploma from UMD in the mail last week. it's been almost 15 years since i started college. my original graduation year was 1999, when i walked in the ceremony. at that time i hadn't finished upper division comp. so, in 2003 i went back and aced it. at that time, i should have gotten my diploma. i never got it. so i went in and found out i had a blank on my transcript. usually, that would have automatically turned into an "F" but it never did. i then wrangled with the UMD proverbial rodeo for 5 years. i had many bad experiences including having to see some lady's tattoo on her butt. i had to pay many unneccessary fees. this year i was going to get a lawyer, but then one woman in student services decided to help me. she fixed it all and i got my diploma last week. the funny thing is that the date on my diploma is dec. 17th, 2008, so it looks like i was in college for 14 years!
i just got back from my most recent trip to the mayo clinic where i was finally diagnosed by a neurologist. i have trigeminal neuralgia. i suspected that i had it when i was introduced to the disease about a month ago, but waited until the final diagnosis to confirm it. it's a rare nerve/brain disorder that usually affects people over 50. my neurologist is suspicious that i have multiple sclerosis because there are virtually no people my age who have this and don't have MS. so, i'm going thru the MS tests. i don't think i have MS because i don't have any symptoms. if i don't have MS, then i get to go in a textbook because it's so unusual for a 32 year old to have trigeminal neuralgia.
the treatment for TN to start is anti-seizure meds. the first one i tried did not work, so i'm on a different one. i hope it works. the typical protocol is to try all the meds. the meds tend to stop working in about 5 years. then there are more radical treatments after that - injecting alcohol to numb the nerve, inserting a balloon in the nerve to create a lesion, radiation therapy, and finally, brain surgery. this disease is not something that will kill me, it just causes extreme pain. there seems to be a stigma surrounding TN - the websites state that it's known as "the suicide disease" because it hurts so much. that's a little extreme, but sometimes the pain does drive me completely nuts.
so i'm taking it day by day. the meds are making me a little loony, but hopefully my body will get used to them soon.
i just got back from my most recent trip to the mayo clinic where i was finally diagnosed by a neurologist. i have trigeminal neuralgia. i suspected that i had it when i was introduced to the disease about a month ago, but waited until the final diagnosis to confirm it. it's a rare nerve/brain disorder that usually affects people over 50. my neurologist is suspicious that i have multiple sclerosis because there are virtually no people my age who have this and don't have MS. so, i'm going thru the MS tests. i don't think i have MS because i don't have any symptoms. if i don't have MS, then i get to go in a textbook because it's so unusual for a 32 year old to have trigeminal neuralgia.
the treatment for TN to start is anti-seizure meds. the first one i tried did not work, so i'm on a different one. i hope it works. the typical protocol is to try all the meds. the meds tend to stop working in about 5 years. then there are more radical treatments after that - injecting alcohol to numb the nerve, inserting a balloon in the nerve to create a lesion, radiation therapy, and finally, brain surgery. this disease is not something that will kill me, it just causes extreme pain. there seems to be a stigma surrounding TN - the websites state that it's known as "the suicide disease" because it hurts so much. that's a little extreme, but sometimes the pain does drive me completely nuts.
so i'm taking it day by day. the meds are making me a little loony, but hopefully my body will get used to them soon.