Recovery Process

February of 1999 saw me home recovering from surgery meant to fix my "Dain Bramage".

Before leaving the hospital for home, my wife shaved my poor misshapen zipper head, so that the left side matched the right. I never allowed anyone to take pictures of my fez monkey hairdo.

Now, it was time to start the recovery process, and determine if the craniotomy had helped or hurt me. I was so determined to get rid of the migraines, I would have done anything and did. Now, I had to pay the consequences. I'm not just talking about a bad haircut, either. Soon after returning home, I started to have small seizures, that the anti-seizure medication didn't effect.

I began having episodes where I would stop talking mid sentence, and stand or sit with a blank look on my face. Sometimes, it was like blacking out, where I would fall to the ground and wake up just in time to feel the floor meet my head.

I began having episodes where I would stop talking mid sentence, and stand or sit with a blank look on my face. Sometimes, it was like blacking out, where I would fall to the ground and wake up just in time to feel the floor meet my head. Sometimes I would even repeat myself, without even knowing I had done it. I would have aphasia and not be able to talk, although, I could write what I was thinking. I would lose motor skills on my left side, and could speak in sign language using my left hand, but not my right. My aphasia might happen several times a day, and my whole family got used to Daddy phasing out or blacking out in the middle of doing something.

Luckily for me, I did not have any problems while playing recreation league basketball. Unless you count getting hit with an elbow and driving home with a concussion. Unluckily for me, I found myself lying down in the shower too many times too many.

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I have recounted these stories of my 1999 brain surgery and recovery in order to give myself some peace, and maybe provide some information that would help someone else. I have not tried to recount every experience or discuss each decision as right or wrong. Everyone's life is their own, and each of us must make our own decisions. I did get nearly eight months, migraine free, but I don't think that I would make the same decision today knowing the other problems that were associated with the operation. Hind sight is 20/20.

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Craniotomy After Glow

I awoke in the ICU, after my craniotomy, very confused. I think part of my confusion was the fact that I was alive. I don't know why I had resolved to accept that I might not survive the surgery. I guess I was prepared to get rid of my migraine pain, no matter what it took. If it took, the Lord taking me home, then so be it.

I was also confused by the sterile and stark nature of the room, I woke up in. I honestly didn't know for some amount of time, if I was alive or dead. Morphine can do that to you.

It turns out that the surgery went extremely well. The neurosurgeon was able to remove the cyst. When they happened upon the AVM, unprepared to repair it, they cauterized it on both ends with the thought being that it would be absorbed by the body over time.

Neurosurgeons obviously spend a lot of time in school to learn their craft, but I submit that they should also get their beauticians license, if they are going to shave your head before surgery. I had asked if I should shave it before going to the hospital, and was told by my doctor, that he would take care of it in pre-OP. I awoke post-OP with my entire head shaved, except for a baseball sized circle on the side of my head, where it had lain on the table. I felt like a monkey with a fez. It took several embarrassing days before the staff would let my wife shave the tassel off.

Needless to say, my post surgery after glow was not very endearing. My face appeared mottled yellow and blue, I had a long zipper (stitches) from the center of my front hairline around the hairline to my ear, a black eye and a fez. Yes, I was on the road to recovery.

Monday, June 8, I will finish with "Recovery Process". Please come back for this final true story installment or click one of the links on this page to subscribe to my blog.

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Arterial Venous Malformation

Arterial venous malformation, or AVM for short. An abnormal connection between veins and arteries; that is what they found hidden under an arachnoid cyst in my left anterior temporal lobe. I was having surgery to remove or fenestrate the cyst, but they found more when they operated.

I was "Dain Bramaged"!

I had been joked with, all my life, because of my crazy antics. But, it turned out to be true. Not only did I have the arachnoid cyst, but also an AVM. Of course we did not know this before the start of the surgery.

Before the surgery, I had and MRA with contrast. A magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), is a powerful magnetic field, radio waves and a computer that produce detailed images. It is obviously less invasive than a catheter angiography. For whatever reason, my test did not show the AVM lying beneath the arachnoid cyst.

Entering into the surgery, I was scared but resolved. I had a feeling that I wouldn't wake up, but I had hope. Being a Christian I was certain that my God would take care of me, no matter what the outcome. I updated my Will, and created a list of all the information that my wife might need.

I had taken the time to order a bouquet of candy flowers from a specialty shop, and wrote a letter to my family explaining my love for them and my hopes for their futures. It was set to arrive at the house two days after the surgery.

I had a quiet calm that morning (even before I was given "something" to help me relax). I resolved that no matter what, I would awake to a new day, a new beginning. As the anesthesiologist asked me, "Are you ready to take a little trip?", I answered, "I'm not going nowhere with out my lugga."

Please come back Friday for the conclusion of this story, or better yet, get my feed automatically by choosing one of the options to the right.

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Dain Bramaged

In 1999 I went to my family doctor with a folder of medical journal articles and told him, "I think I may need brain surgery".

What was I thinking?? I had been told six weeks before that I had an arachnoid cyst in the left anterior temporal region of my head. I was told that this is not an uncommon condition, and is most definitely benign. The doctor's said that it may have been congenital or it may have been caused by a trauma. Since no one else in my family has ever had migraines (that I am aware of), I concluded that it must be due to trauma. They don't call me "Head Trauma Honaker" for nothing!

(The scan shown above is not mine and is shown for reference only)

I had heard several times over the previous 16+ years (I was first struck without warning in '82), that there was a slight abnormality in my CT scan, but it was nothing to worry about. In '98, I finally became smart enough to ask questions of my doctors and began my own research. The location of the cyst and the location of my pain were exactly the same, so I began to read everything I could find about this and similar conditions.

So... I found online articles that talked about the "exact" same condition possibly causing migraines, and that some success had been seen in fenestration (poking holes in) or removal of the cyst so that it would not contain cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) under pressure. I gave these articles to my family doctor and my neurologist, who both agreed that I should consult with a neurosurgeon about having a craniotomy.

We scheduled the surgery for the next month, two days before my birthday, and I began putting my affairs in order.

Part two, Arterial Veinous Malformation, will be posted on Wednesday, stay tuned, or click the button to subscribe to my blog.