Things haven't been going well, I'm still in daily pain. I had my 57 surgery in November where they put in 2 new valves and an adjustable shunt assistant in hopes of slowing or stopping the over drainage. I ended up with 3 incisions. On my neck, chest (I have a pleural shunt) and head so recovery was rough.
I was only expecting to have one incision on my head when I went to the hospital. He explained to me that he would be unable to reach my shunt unless he made another incision on my neck. I wasn't happy about it but I guess it needed to be done. I wake up in the recovery room and discovered I had an INCISION ON MY CHEST!! I was pretty p.o. He said he realized that he needed to change the other one as well.
It gets even worse (I know, aren't I a ray of sunshine). I have always told the or staff (and it's on my allergy bracelet) that I am severely allergic to steri-strips. Guess what my freaking neurosurgeon put on. Yeah, STERI-STRIPS!!! He only used them on my neck but I had hives all over my neck and a little on my chest for days. It very hard to get the glue off. I had iv Benadryl while I was there which worked well but when I was discharged I started taking oral Benadryl. I'm pretty sure I o.d. on that.
This happened around thanksgiving so the day I was discharged my grandma was flying in for thanksgiving. My uncle flew in a few days later. Remember, I had 3 incisions and could barely walk due to it. Let's just say it wasn't a very pleasant holiday. Post op I developed back pain. I have had back pain before and when I do get it, it's pretty bad. It seems as though when my head is worse my back is a little better and vice versa.
We have changed my shunt setting multiple times now with some improvement. I just pray this isn't forever.
Peace out homies.
