It's Changed My Life But Not Sure If It's Good Or Bad Yet.

April 17, 2012 5:47am CST
On the 30th of Dec' 2011, I had a CT scan at my local hospital. An hour later I get a phone call from a consultant explaining that I needed to leave work straight away as they have found an abnormality at the back of my brain. More and more tests and scans were needed until they finally found out what it was. It was an arachnoid cyst. Basically, a pocket of fluid floating around in my skull. They believed it was there since birth as the veins and arteries were working around it, they only thing they couldn't be sure of was that it would grow and kill me. That was then when the decision was made to have it completely removed. This was actioned on the 10th of Jan' 2012. I can remember going down into the theatre, putting a mask over my face, 'just breathe deeply', mum saying 'i'll see you on the other side'. I could feel tears running down my face, then couldn't remember anything. I was under for 6 hours. Recovery was a nightmare. I was sick EVERYDAY over 6 times. We tried to get through to the consultant/hospital/GP anyone that could help and we would sometimes be waiting over 2 days for a call back. I had a temperature of 38.4 and it lasted for three days, I wasn't eating or drinking anything. We didn't know what to do. The back of my head was twice the size as it was before, it was tender, sore and very painful. Until finally, John Radcliffe Oxford Hospital told my mum to bring me in. On the 15th of Feb' 2012 I was going to have more surgery. This time, a shunt was fitted to drain away the fluid that was making my head swell up. In case your wondering what a shunt is it's a small tube running from the brain down into the stomach. We were happy after this, the swelling seemed to go down and the sickness stopped. But only for a couple of days. Everything went from bad to worse. There were days I couldn't get out of bed, days where I couldn't even walk to the shops without being tired or throwing up. We had enough, we contacted Oxford again but this time we weren't happy. 11th of April 2012, surgery again. This time it was a monitor in my head to programme the pressure and see what was going on. They couldn't see no problems. They unblocked my shunt but still told me it could happen again. I've been back home for a couple of days and I am already feeling much better. Haven't been sick once but still can't help but feel a little depressed about what has happened to me. I can't leave the house yet as your not allowed to wash your hair while the stitches are in, and i've got to wait a week. Also, my ex decided to dump me on the day I got out because I heard he was doing something and made out he was the victim. I know there are people out there who's been through a lot more than me, I just need some advise. I'm 20 years old and what has happened has changed my life but I still don't know if it's for the good or bad.
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1 response
jjzone44
@jjzone44 (917)
• United States
18 Apr 12
You have to believe that the surgery was for the good. Arachnoid cysts are not always removed, but from what you describe about the shunt and all, I assume yours was pushing against your 4th ventricle and causing hydrocephalus. Increased intercranial pressure is not a good thing to have, so that is probably why they elected to remove the cyst. Just to give you an idea of how important a well regulated pressure is, CSF (that fluid in the ventricles) does not have its own pump. When your hear beats, the rush of blood causes expansion of the brain, and a concurrent contraction of the ventricles, and the fluid moves up and down your spine through the 4th ventricle. So maintaining normal pressure is important. Are there people out there with worse problems, sure there are. I personally know of a girl who had a CT because of a car accident. They found a Grade III Astrocytoma in her occipital lobe. The mean survival time for such an invasive tumor is around 18 months, but because they found hers before it became symptomatic, she is still alive well past 18 months. The side effects that you are going through now may seem quite bothersome, but untreated hydrocephalus can damage brain tissue because of the increased pressure. Brain damage is irreversible, so it's good you got that treated. As for your ex, what goes around comes around; if he left you when you needed support the most, he will find himself alone in some situation in the future. The difference is that you are able to handle it, the jury is still out on if he will be as successful as you.