Heavy metal and snow

Pain behind my eyes and in my forehead all day today, I took something for it and nothing has improved.  Sometimes the curamin vitamins I take work. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes ibupropfen works, sometimes it doesn’t. Yesterday was better. My shunt beeped once while I was driving last week. Most likely it was adjusting or reprogramming itself. I did think for a second that it was communicating with a satellite since it is magnetic.

If only I could order take out food or pick up on radio stations with the advanced technology inside my brain.

Many people benefit from taking prescribed medications, I’m not one of them. In the past, I’ve used prescribed medication for pain management. Because of the side effects, I had to stop.

I was given anti depressant medication once for pain management and all it gave me was severe  mood swings. Other medications like gapapentin made my knees, fingers go numb.

Exercise is a good distraction from my pain issues as is making new art and seeing black santa décor at my local mall.

Seeing black santa fills my heart with joy, as does heavy metal holiday music.  

Time to draw...

This morning, I have some nausea and headache from the chiari malformation in addition to sharp pains from the shunt valve. Time to draw....

6:30pm

 I noticed around last night at 6:30pm I didn't have any shunt, forehead pain. This has continued into this morning. I can move my head and I don't feel the shunt making adjustments or pain from the shunt valve. So for now, I am not a war with my programmable shunt valve. And an added bonus, no falling incidents for two weeks now.  

brain walk '21 and turtles

 The Brain Injury walk I and many others usually participate in this year was cancelled because of the pandemic. Hopefully next year, we'll be able to walk in person for brain injury awareness. Last Saturday was the one day in a while where I didn't have any shunt or chronic pain from my injuries. My medical device has been reacting to the weather and whatever it feels like doing on that particular day. Monday,  10/12 I had nausea from the distal catheter part of my shunt into the evening at the same time as shunt and head pain. This made me nervous, angry and sad as I feared the shunt was getting obstructed again. Then the nausea went away by the following day. 

As of today, I have pressure in my forehead, dizziness, right eye pain and of course balance issues. Shunt malfuncioning symptoms include severe vomiting and headache, and the inability to walk and gait issues. For that reason, I was worried on Monday and relieved when things got better. With past shunt revisions, I didn't have any indication my shunt was obtructed. I would just wake up the next day and had have all the symptoms. Anyone who has a shunt or a family memeber with one will tell you how unpredictable this thing is. You just don't know when it will stop working.  

SNES Ninja Turtles IV
A fun escape during these uncertain times. 

When shunt madness makes me sad and angry, I escape through art, scrapbooking, movies like National Treasure or video games like the Super Nintendo classic, Turtles in Time.

balance and a few roses

Me (Veronica) outside at a local rose garden. 

My walking and balance issues are random and they've been happening more frequently. I fell backwards yesterday which is different from my falling routine which is almost always right leg crossing over left leg. I told my neurologist about this and she gave me a referral over the summer for physical therapist in my area.

I have to delay Physical Therapy for now.....

                                      Because of the pandemic, masks are required in public places and it will be difficult for me to wear a mask for an hour long physical therapy session. 

A flower in the garden 

In the meantime, I went for a walk at a new rose garden discovered by a friend. I had shunt and scalp pain issues all day.

m&ms and the brain

 As the shunt and chronic pain madness continues, I've rediscovered scrap booking and music to help escape. This song M&M commercial song from 2016 makes me smile.

right eye rebellion

Recently, I went to my local aquarium and saw brain shaped coral which is totally appropriate for this blog and this month, as it's Hydrocephalus Awareness Month.  

Brain shaped coral at the aquarium

Visiting the aquarium was a great escape from chronic pain issues. My right eye is still adjusting to my new eyeglasses. There are times when it has drifted to the right side if my head on it's own and images split in front of both my eyes as they did when I had double vison for a year and 12 days in 2014 and 2015.  

The last three days I've had pain on the shunt valve, nausea and pain behind my right eye.  It's around 1am where I am right now and I can't sleep. I am

Myself out for a walk on 
a pain free day last month. 

 sitting by my sofa with my cat because of chronic pain issues. I've also been having sound sensitivity in my right ear. After my injuries in 2014, it caused several changes to my nervous system including TMJ and hearing issues in my right ear.  Sometimes I am sensitive to sounds, like this morning, it's raining and the sound of the rain is bothering me. 

I move my head from side to side and there's pain. It's 1:55am.