Wednesday, April 14, 2010

My Brain

First, thank ya'll so much for all the prayers over the past week!  I've been hesitant to "blog" about the brain stuff until I knew more about what was going on.  Then I realized that the only people looking at this are probably my family and friends that already know everything.  Plus I really think it will help me to write about it all.  

So, 2 Fridays ago (which happened to be GOOD Friday), Caleb got to see my brain during a MRI.  How fun, right?  My migraines had gotten kinda bad and much more frequent.  They occurred twice at work, and that's what really got to me.  I hated having to take meds while working, and frankly just the fact that I had to show weakness in front of my co-workers really got to me.  Migraines don't back down though.  

My neurologist ordered a MRI that Friday, and I thought it was a complete waste of time and money.  I had sort of come to terms with the fact that I have migraines, and I just have to deal with it.  Well, I finally got the results on Tuesday, and "Anxious-Research Every Detail-Kathryn" came out.  I'm pretty sure I read every personal story, treatment option, and prognosis for the minor abnormality that showed up on my MRI report.  It was nothing life threatening, but it sounded like it could get worse, and may even require BRAIN SURGERY.  I already started preparing myself for being bald.  To make matters worse, my neurologist had to reschedule my appointment to 3 weeks later, and that's when I really hit panic mode.

I called everybody I knew that could maybe, possibly know a neurosurgeon.  One of my favorite doctors prayed about it for me, and then he suggested this guy in Greenville.  Can't argue with God...I scheduled an appointment with the surgeon in Greenville for today, and he was great.  I hope : )

In the meantime, my neurologist ordered a MRA.  That meant another round in the tunnel, aka every claustrophobic's biggest nightmare.  Luckily, my mom and Caleb came with me to the tests to hold my hand.  Literally.  

MRA - totally normal.  Woo Hoo!  The next step was seeing the neurosurgeon today, and he assured me that he doesn't think surgery would fix my migraines.  Sure, it would help the little weirdo brain I've got, but it's not necessary at this time.  He says other surgeons would happily take me to the OR, shave my little head, and slice it open, but he thinks they're "quacks."  Is he right?  I pray he is.  He went to Duke, so of course Caleb is sold on his opinion, haha.

It was good news that I don't need surgery now, but the bad news is that I will still have migraines.  I'm seeing my neurologist in a week or so, and hopefully she can work on those M-words.  Other than that, we'll just be monitoring me for a change in symptoms and possibly serial MRIs.  

Again, thanks for all the prayers!  I'll update if anything changes.  Now, we're praying for peace from this opinion we received today.  Sorry this is so long, but it's been a couple of weeks worth of worry just exploding inside of me onto this here bloggiepoo.  

2 comments:

A Butta Way to Cook said...

I am so sorry that they have gotten so bad Kathryn. As a fellow migrainer I feel your pain! This is totally random and I don't know your case or your migraines but my sister gets them and she heard that botox in certain areas can help get stop them. I have no clue about the process but I'm sure there is research out there. It seems to help with hers!!

Courtney said...

i am one of your blog readers that did not already know about your stress these past couple weeks. so thank you for the update. glad everything is normal and no surgery is needed!