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Thursday, February 16

My Journey: Part 2

If you are just now joining me,
I am sharing a huge part of my life, a "journey" that has and still influences many aspects of my life.
If you want to catch up, read part one

Before we start..
How about a fun pic of me and Ryan from our graduation beach trip!
{This was right before I had my surgery. glad I got my tan on, haha} 




I was referred to one of the best pediatric neurosurgeons in the country at Duke in July.
I had several more in depth testing done to determine what was causing these continual, crippling headaches, fainting spells, numbness, swallowing problems, and ringing in my ears. 

At my appointment he told my parents and I that I had Chiari Malformation.
It is something that you are born with and it either presents its self at birth or usually at the age of 16-18. {go figure I was 18 at the time}. 

Basically, your cerebellum has tonsils, and my cerebelluar tonsils were obstructing the flow of spinal fluid flow to the brain! 
{big deal yall!}

So my spinal fluid was just spurting past the tonsils.

Here is a picture to help you, well picture it.

He told us that surgery in my case surgery had about a 70 - 95% chance of being fully successful.
He said that I would see some of the more complex symptoms go away for sure and that I would most likely get significant relief from my headaches.

We decided to go for it. 
I was at my wits end.
I was starting college in 2 months.
I was ready to be 100%

My surgery was that Friday!
For some reason I had complete peace. 
Ryan and my family were all so supportive and were therefore me the entire time. 

I went into surgery at 6AM.
I dont remember anything until I woke up in ICU in intense pain.
I was cussing up a storm {hahaha}
I was in so much pain. 
My morphine pump was broken for an hour after the surgery. 
No wonder I pressed the button 160 times people! 

I stayed in the hospital for 5 days and then went home and spend all summer recovering.
I made a fast recovery and headed off to College! 

2 months later, enter set back...
That is where we can pick up next time.

What to expect:
Part 3: The Set-back
Part 4: Today and the Future
Part 5: What was God Teaching Me?



1 comment:

  1. Wow...tonsils.. that's crazy. & I laughed out loud that you woke up cussing...I said and did some pretty crazy things the one time I was put under..some very out of character things, haha. =) It's crazy what our bodies do! But, I'm glad you came through!

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