Part 1 of 2 That’s rhetorical! However, my question is sincere and this is why… Having hydrocephalus and enduring brain surgery (repeatedly) takes a toll on you. We never really know what the effects will be. Symptoms, surgery and recovery, may differ with each operation, per person. For those...
Articles with the Tag Brain surgery
Don’t go out without a fight..!
Some days it feels like I’m literally floating through life, day by day. Caught in a never ending loop, facing the challenges this condition imposes. I want and need a break… Faced with the reality that the treatment options, keeping me alive, are not ideal. They fail. They need...
Living with a VP Shunt is not new to me but, this time, it’s different.
For a start, I can hear my shunt draining CSF when I change positions or tilt my head a certain way. This is something I did not experience with my Medtronic programmable shunt. There are even times where I can hear the little ball inside the valve, rolling around...
The most important daily reminder to myself; “You’ve just had brain surgery! Take it easy on yourself”
I repeat this as soon as I catch myself being too hard on the one person who doesn’t need it: ME Brain surgery does not leave you unscathed…the after effects are real and, under the right circumstances, can have a negative effect! It’s what you do after the fact...
An Inside Look At VP Shunt Surgery. The Courage Within!
It’s been 3 weeks since I had a VP Shunt placed. There are spots on my skull where it feels like my head has been placed in a vice grip, (stealth machine, to be exact, according to one of the nurses when I asked why I have a covering...
You can get angry, you can get sad but, no matter the emotion; You HAVE to keep going.
I wrote this a few weeks ago, it was meant to be my way of motivating anyone who needed it. But, I never actually got around to finishing it. Now, lying in a hospital bed (yet again), I find it more suited to my own situation. Current state: I...
Feels like I’m fading away…
How do you come back from brain surgery that leaves you feeling like you’re slipping away? Like you’re stuck in a body that simply won’t physically move, yet somehow, deep inside of you, there’s a part dying to escape the torture chamber! It’s not the life I’m used to....
Brain damage is not easily undone, after the fact! What you need to know…
When glass is shattered, you can try to piece it all back together, however, the cracks will show, altering the appearance. And, any tiny shards you may have missed, will undoubtedly leave some holes and weak spots. C. A. Marriday The risk of inaction As someone diagnosed with Hydrocephalus,...
Do you ever just feel like a waste of space?
In one of my previous posts: “How I cope is much the same as being like a duck”, I talk about the best advice I was given by my ex-manager Ian, after my diagnosis and first brain surgery. I struggled at work, to get back to a version of...
Hydrocephalus and the art of war…
She stood her ground and so did he. They are warriors of a different kind. In the days of war (I can only imagine), facing an unknown opponent, you have no idea what their strengths or weaknesses are. Nor, do you know, what tactical moves they will use to...