Who Let the Sutures Out?
Okay, the title of this post is a lame attempt at making fun of a really old song: "Who Let the Dogs Out?" so I’m only trying to make boring news not so boring. Today I went back to the neurosurgeon’s office so he could check out the progress of my healing of my last surgery for the shunt. Here’s a photo:
Everything seems to be on track so he took out the sutures on the back of my head. So now I have nothing poking me in places I put my head down on when I sleep. It’s not showing in this photo but yes this procedure hurt just a bit.
Speaking of sleep, it’s been great…for healing that is. I am very much looking forward to getting back into my groove and getting a schedule put together. As of now, all I’ve been doing is enjoying my mother’s home cooking for breakfasts and dinners, enjoying occasional visits and phone calls from friends, watching educational TV (Thanks Discovery network and PBS) and then closing off each ‘tiring’ day of moving around with a good night’s rest. My body wakes up on its own about 8 AM and then I can roll over (carefully) and squeeze out any other missing sleep item possible for a while. Thank goodness for my saved sick hours from work.
At the doctor’s office I also got some more information about my shunt: I was worried initially that I’d have to whip out my special identification card that says "I have a shunt installed in my head and this is the doctor who did it, and here are the settings" whenever I went through some sort of security checkpoint just in case I set off the metal detector. Dr Smith assured me that this happens very rarely with my type of shunt. Good thing they didn’t give me bionics in the operating room. That would be kind of a hassle to have extra physical capabilities but you end up having to slow up the TSA lines at airports.
I’m going to start riding my bike soon again and I’m already mapping out some places to go and explore in addition to some of my favorite "stomping grounds" for routes.
I’m not necessarily declaring myself healed, but my doctor’s visits have all been positive and my understanding is that once I’ve been tested on the neuropsychological level and thus prove myself, then I can return to work and life as it was shortly. My neuropsychologist appointment isn’t until the end of the month so I’ll be looking for more creative ways to bring myself back to "normal."
In the meantime, my personal suspicions are that my brain has already begun re-wiring itself to compensate for diseased tissue and now missing tissue. Last night I began my self-prescribed routine of listening to Mozart (like I did after my first surgery) and really enjoyed it. Some of my other self-prescribed healing routines include spending time on the computer (like now) playing the occasional video game, and enhancing my word-power through reading and otherwise consuming the best media I possibly can.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Yay, I’m glad to hear all went well with the shunt and you can hopefully go back to work soon! You look good!