Several hours and a santa

I had chiari malformation headache in the back of my head (by my cerebellum) starting at 5am this morning. This was followed by pain on the shunt valve and nausea. My shunt was adjusting itself. I haven't heard it beep since 2015 and 2016 which is a good thing. I'm even more thrilled that it's still working.

I took pain reliever early this morning  and mid morning (both times with food) pain was reduced by 60% still lingering in the background. This went on for 6 hours. Pain wasn't completely gone until 4pm.  

Today I had double vision issues, where my right eye was drifting and then snapped back to where it was supposed to be. It's disorienting because it's random ( like my balance and walking issues ) 

Again, it makes me nervous about the thought of having eye surgery again. My eye surgeon told me at the time, there was a chance that I may need surgery again. I'm grateful I haven't needed this yet. 

I've been having balance issues the last few days.  For example, getting up to stand and tipping backwards. Many people living with a chronic illness, chronic pain and medical devices deal with their own challenges and have different experiences from mine.

Others things I found helpful to get me through my chronic pain and unruly medical device nonsense has been listening to the soundtrack to Spirited Away. 

The holiday Santa (to the left) makes me smile especially on days when I have pain and walking issues.