Maybe this week?

I'm hoping to have my shunt issues resolved before the end of this week. Last week my neurosurgeon was out of town and I of course had a bad shunt week.  My symptoms are getting more frequent. Yesterday I had somewhere over 17 incidents of pain on my shunt valve, fluid buildup and pain on the catheter in the right side of my neck.  My log from yesterday is as follows:

11/16/13 – fluid buildup in forehead at 5am.  Pain in back of head at 8:12am. Pain down right side of neck and at top of head around 8:50am, 8:55am, 9:51am, 11am. Pain on valve at 9:05am, 9:25am, 9:30am, 10:06am, 10:11am-10:17am. Clogging on right side of neck at 10:28am. Pain on right side of neck on catheter at 11:20am.  Fluid buildup in forehead around 11:50am, 4:48pm into evening hours past 5pm. Throbbing and pain on shunt valve and right side catheter at 12pm, 12:18pm, 12:20pm, 12:23pm, 1:30pm, multiple times between 1:54pm-1:58pm. 2:05pm, 2:07pm, 2:36pm, 2:47pm-2:50pm, 3pm, 3:10pm, 3:38pm (while driving), 4:51pm.  Sharp pain on valve at 5:35pm. Took one asprin at 4:30pm only alleviated the pain in catheter side of neck but not pain on shunt valve.  Pain again on shunt valve multiple times at 6:42pm-6:44pm, 8:11pm. 

Then this morning:

11/17/13 – Fluid buildup in back of head and forehead starting around 5am.  Pain on shunt valve at 2am.  Pain on right side of neck on catheter at 8:19pm.  Sharp pain on shunt valve at 9:23am, 10:40am, 11:16am, 11:19pm, 12:15pm, 2:25pm.  11:20pm pain on right side of head and in back. 12:06pm pain on left side. Throbbing on top left side of head around 1:30pm and again at 2pm.  Sharp pain on shunt valve around 4:20pm, 5:49pm-5:51pm (multiple times), 6:21pm, 6:45pm. Sharp pain on right side of neck on catheter behind ear at 7:20pm, 7:23pm. 7:41pm, 8pm, 8:16pm. Pain in back right corner of head at 8:10pm, 8:15pm. 

 

Cold Floor

When I saw my surgeon in September he implied that I may have to have surgery again if I continued to experience the pain and other sensations I'd been feeling since July.  I've been keeping track of my findings in a log. So far it's nine pages in total.  I have an appointment to see my doctor in the second week of December.  At this time, I don't think I'll be able to wait the additional three weeks.  This week in particular has been a challenge because the pain I've experienced on the shunt valve and in other parts of my head (catheter in neck, top of head, etc) have been longer and occur more frequently and sometimes in pairs.  It's beginning to interfere with my concentration.   If I still feel this way tomorrow I may have to take a trip to the ER and allow them to figure out what the next step should be.  I'm aware of what's going on inside my head.  If a surgical intervention is needed it's better for it to occur now rather than in December.