So, I had a little brain surgery…

I have just been through a VERY difficult couple of weeks. I had something called a Middle Fossa Craniotomy a couple of weeks ago. It was to repair a spontaneous CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) leak (one that is not caused by accident or injury, etc… and just pops up on its own). I have been suffering with it for nearly three years now. My ENT doc here in the Chattanooga area was taking a “wait and see” approach with it, because sometimes these things resolve on their own. Mine did not.

This is not the first time I have had a spontaneous CSF leak. I had one in 2006. That one was located more toward the center of my head and they could access it by going up through my nose to do the repair. It was about a 5 or 6-hour deal, though… and I do recall my nose being packed and my face being black and blue for a while. That was 18 years ago, though… younger and in far better health. This time, well… not so much. This one was causing something called “brain sag” which has a myriad of awful side effects… with even some dementia-type symptoms in there just to make everything even scarier!

I was referred to a surgeon down towards Atlanta (a couple of hours away) and had to go to a hospital down that way for the surgery. I do really like the surgeon. He is super nice, very thorough, and is good friends with my ENT up here.

This leak was located in the middle fossa section of the skull, and they had to go in above my ear on the left side. I was in the hospital for 5 or 6 days. It was all such a blur… the aftermath was tough, I was in a lot of pain, was dizzy, had nausea, etc… I am actually thankful they kept me in the hospital because the doctor was initially saying I would go home the next day. I think when they found out that I would be all alone, they decided it wouldn’t be a good idea since I was really having a hard time of it. I guess maybe someone in top health might have been able to go home the next day if they had someone around to help care for them… but for someone who has compromised health already, and is super weak and wheelchair dependent, etc… going home alone the next day would not have been ideal.

Even when I got home the next week, I was still in pain, dizzy, and nauseated. I also then spiked a fever and had to go to the ER because I couldn’t seem to control it with Tylenol and I can’t take NSAIDS. Thankfully, the ER here in Chattanooga was able to get in touch with my surgeon down in the ATL and he said this could happen, but to keep taking the Tylenol and they would prescribe some antibiotics to make sure that we got rid of any infection that might be kicking off. I came back home and stayed on that med routine for 5 days.

During all of this, due to swelling in my head, it affected my vision as well as my hearing. I couldn’t see anything, even with my glasses (which have to be worn sort of sideways since where the frames would sit over my ear is where I have sutures). Thankfully my vision is starting to come back now… (still a bit fuzzy, but improving). My hearing has not come back in my left ear at all. I feel pressure in there, as well as lots and lots of ringing. The top of my left ear is also sticking out (it didn’t before). I’ve also had a lot of pain in my left jaw, making it hard to chew… so I have been existing on super soft foods like applesauce, mashed potatoes, etc… (still being VERY strict about not having any processed foods, no chemicals, no gluten, and no added sugar).

I HOPE all of these annoying things will go away… I am supposed to go for a follow-up with the surgeon this coming week (and to have the sutures removed) but I am not sure if it will happen because they are trying to coordinate an appointment with an endocrinologist friend of my surgeon down there to talk about my enlarged thyroid (which has been causing all sorts of mayhem). Anyway… so I am in this sort of holding pattern until that happens.

I have a lot of restrictions right now and for the next few weeks. No bending, no lifting anything heavy, no blowing my nose… mostly common sense stuff. The last thing I want to do is to mess things up and have to have surgery AGAIN… yikes! My friend Ford has been amazing, though, and he has been bringing his stuff over and working from my house on the weekdays so I have someone here with me during the day in case I need anything. He has been scooping my kitty cat’s litter box (I can’t bend over to do it) as well as taking care of my birdies. I hope to be able to start helping with the birdies again – I will just have to move slowly as turning my head too much causes a lot of dizziness). Ford has been a real rockstar, though. My friend Josh has helped as well, picking up prescription meds for me, and getting a family member of his (who is a home health nurse) to come and help me get a bath… I was feeling NASTY after having not had a bath for a week and being too dizzy to safely get in and out of the tub on my own.

I am very thankful to now be on the other side of that surgery, though… and thankful to folks who have helped me and who have sent messages asking about me. Due to my vision issues, I was unable to respond to people for quite a while, but I am touched that folks reached out.

This week, I will be trying to deal with a lot of stressful stuff that has popped up in the weeks that I have been out of commission. Apparently, my student loan fell into some sort of issue where they have started billing me again – I had been on an income-dependent repayment plan with a zero payment (since I have no income)… seems as though now they say I need to requalify, but the student loan website wasn’t allowing me to reapply, etc… So… lots of stress as I have to try and navigate this and get myself recertified because I cannot pay at the moment… there’s no way. I am barely making it each month as it is. Next up, yearly billing for my websites is due. That bill has to be paid in the next week or two or else I lose my websites. All of them. I know I have not been super active on them recently, but I was so hoping that after this surgery and recovery was behind me, I could really hop back in there and work hard on them… I earn a teeny tiny bit of income from them, and was hoping to earn even more since (hopefully) my migraines might be more in control and I can work more diligently on it all. But… I now have to do some fundraising this week to see if I can raise enough to pay the bill. I swear, if it’s not one thing, it’s something else. Or two or three somethings.

But for today… today is Sunday. I am planning to take lots of deep breaths, and center myself. I am grateful that the surgery is behind me, recovery is now going well, and I am really looking forward to my migraines being more controlled.

Maybe someone out there reading this could help me out a bit? Here’s how…

• I REALLY need help with my yearly website bill that is due this month – any FINANCIAL DONATIONS would be super appreciated!
  
  
• I also have quite a few items on my AMAZON WISHLIST that I need at the moment. (Mostly healthcare and household items) I have not been able to post the links for the list on social media in a while since I have been so ill (and with my vision compromised) but I wanted to put the link here now, just in case anyone would like to help.

It’s awful to have to be an online beggar, but I am trying hard to improve my health so I can find ways to earn money and not have to beg for help. My mental health has been trying to thwart me and I have nearly given up on life, even right before the surgery (as evidenced by my last blog post here) but thankfully my stubbornness prevailed and I am still here… still fighting… please, can you help?

Thanks so much, everyone…