The Permanent Implant

Sorry that it's been so long since I've posted. Figured I would finally update you all on how my surgery went. On July 19th, I went to Jefferson University Hospital in Philly to have my permanent nerve stimulator implanted. The surgery went well, although I was pretty sore for about a week afterwards. I have about 5 small scars on my head, back shoulder and chest where they ran the wires and installed the battery. Overall I'd say that the stimulator is helping, although I am still getting about 2-3 headaches a week that I'm unable to get relief for. This is definitely better than having a headache 7 days a week, but it's also a little frustrating since the trial stimulator did so well. I'm hoping that after the next follow up visit, I can get some new "programs" that will maybe help eliminate or at least control the headaches that do make it through.

RELIEF! For 5 days....

So after a few years of waiting, on 5/25/12, I went to Philadelphia and had a nerve stimulator trial implanted at the Jefferson University hospital. They put two wires in my head, one around the occipital nerve on the back of my head, and one above my left eye. These two wires talked to one another, and the stimulation covered the entire left side of my head pretty much. (notice the lovely haircut the gave me.... that was a joy to discover when we took the head bandage off when we got home!) I could adjust the frequency and intensity of the "shocks" as I needed to provide the best relief for my daily headaches. There were a total of 8 programs on my device, but I really only used 2 of them. The one that I kept going most of the time was a high frequency stimulation that felt a bit like a massage. If I felt a headache coming on, then I would switch programs to one that was like a gentle "thump", and it usually relieved the pain within a few minutes. It was really quite amazing how well this thing worked, especially after trying so many other things in the past. I did have one migraine during the trial period that the stimulator didn't really help with, but since I only get those about once a month, I think I could deal with that! As far as the normal daily headaches that I deal with, the stimultor lessened the frequency of those, and allowed me to control the pain of the once that did make it through. Unfortunately, the trial was only for 5 days.... I had it removed the next week, and the headaches returned. Now I'm just waiting for an appointment with the neurosurgeon to see when I can get the permanent one installed!

Half Frame 2

Half Frame 1

The next few posts will be photos I took with my half frame camera. What it does is take 2 photos on one 35mm frame, so on a 36 exposure roll of film, you actually get 72 photos.