Good morning to all my beautiful BA people!
I apologize for the delay in connecting with all of you (it is now 1+ years), but I am incredibly grateful (and gosh darn lucky - strike that - “miraculous”) to be with you all now!
Miracle #1 was that I did not experience the worst headache of my life. Instead my left leg did not respond to commands (“walk”) which is how my whole world started to change.
I called 9-1-1 and arranged for someone to let the paramedics in the door. By the time the paramedics arrived, I was no longer aware/cognizant of what was happening, and wouldn’t regain cognizance for several days (partly due to a medically-induced coma). Miracle #2 that that phone call happened.
Miracle #3 is my fabulous neuro team in Philadelphia. Their hard work was only just beginning (read on)!
I am the proud owner of a coil for my 2 mm x 1.3 mm PICA annie. Seriously, who has the talent and skill to work with such a small space?!?! I don’t; sewing is not a strong talent of mine. Miracle #4 for my neuroradiologist and his team for their talent and skills.
Fast forward a few months, and clearly I was better - but also not. Sure enough, I developed hydrocephalus, so I made great impressions of the Leaning Tower of Pisa when sitting or standing. ;). I have grown to appreciate how amazing our brains are, and how they control everything - even things we do not think about (well, I didn’t!): balance, memory, etc. Miracle #5 to my neurosurgeon and his team who - again - stepped in to help and installed my VP shunt.
Can we talk about VP shunts and how amazing they are?!? Who figured this out? Who developed them? Who improved them? Who would be drawn to do this kind of work? (Again, not my forte.) In literally just a few days, my family noticed a tremendous difference, and at Thanksgiving 2023, my sister-in-law gasped at the table and said your speech is back to normal. Miracle #6 (and maybe #7 - just for kicks!).
Flash forward a few months! Although I started driving and being more normal - short story is I was backsliding. I started to have some sporadic balance, etc. issues again, and not act/do things I said I would. That was my warning sign, but it was sporadic enough that I didn’t believe it/process it!
So, after many heads got together and discussed it behind my back, I went back to the hospital, where the doctors eventually concluded I had bacterial meningitis. Out comes the VP shunt, and I was hooked up to an EV shunt for 2 weeks while I was on mega antibiotics. In went the new VP shunt, which - anecdotally - my family claims is even better than the first one, as I am more like my old self (but I respect that none of us can be after what we are all going through)! Miracles #7 and #8 to my neurosurgery team AGAIN - just because they deserve extra points.
I am now back home, and finishing up this chapter of PT, etc.
At my anniversary date, I started to tack on “survivor” to my name. I also realized that after all I have been through, I have not truly begun to process emotionally what has happened. I shed no tears until my anniversary weekend, so I appreciate that I need to work on a different type of healing now, hence why I wanted to reach out to all of you.
A second chance at life is a gift, and I am grateful to be with all of you!