4 days and a Santa Claus

For quite a while now, I've had some really good pain free shunt/chronic pain days. 

until.....

Four days this week....I had elevated pressure in my forehead followed by distal catheter pain in the side of my neck. Additional pain in the shunt valve which felt like someone had taken a needle in plunged it into my shunt, shooting down inside my head. Some nausea and distal catheter pain in my stomach plus pain in the side of my head. 

This went on for the last four days, starting very early on Tuesday morning. 

Like around 1am.  

Finally, today I had some relief with no shunt or head pain at all. 

Pain medication did nothing for me over the last four days.

I suspect my shunt was either adjusting itself, reacting to the moon and responding to the plunge in weather. In my area, it was like 25 degrees at the beginning of this week. 

The good news is, besides being pain free for the minute, other things that have brought me joy this week are....

Example of black santa claus decor 

1.  Black Santa Claus decorations at my local mall. 

It's still too early for me for Christmas music. Seeing decorations that have a skin tone similar to mine, brings me joy and for a brief moment when I'm not feeling well, makes me smile. 

2. Having songs from The Little Mermaid stuck in my head after seeing the live action/animated show on television last week. I will always love the animated version, I'm a little biased being an animator myself....Still seeing the live action/animated version and hearing the songs again made me happy and was a brief distraction from my head issues...

3. Nintendo...in moderation....

Let's hope for more pain free days and less sharp pains in my shunt that radiate into my head....

Caregivers with fur

Scalp pain returned last night briefly and the last two weeks I've had dizziness when moving my head.

I had some walking issues earlier this week, almost tripped over my legs again in the living room.

Stella the cat 

According to my neurologist who I saw earlier last month, I have something called parasthesias, transient right leg weakness and slight dysmetria.

In October, my cat Stella turned 19. She's helped me recover through four shunt revision surgeries (2009-2014) and multiple brain injuries in 2014.

11/2/19 - Right side of head scar from shunt
revision surgery in May 2014

This weekend, someone asked me about the scar on the side of my head. Most of the time it can't be seen, it's only noticeable when I get a haircut.  I don't mind talking about my brain injuries sometimes, it is usually a good 30 to 45 minute story from start to finish.  However, yesterday, I chose the shorter version of the story explaining I had had surgery it was long story. Wherein the woman replied, 'You're going to be okay right?" and of course, I said, 'Yes, I think I will be''

What a nice random encounter to have with someone on a cold and windy day.  A few days ago, the wind in the evening was bothering my forehead.

My shunt is behaving since then.... No pain for a week already, which is a small miracle in itself.