I wrote this blog in 2007 on the first anniversary of being pain free. Two years later I am still pain free and wanted to share it again. I have updated the timeframe to make it current, but other than that, the blog is in tact and still tells the story very well. I still experience some numbness and tingling in the side of my head once in a while, but that is just a gentle reminder of where I was before the surgery. God is good!
Yesterday marked the three year anniversary of one of the best/worst days of my life. On December 18, 2007, I had a surgical procedure performed in my brain called Microvascular Decompression at University Hospital in Cincinnati. My doctor, Dr. John Tew, is one of the best in the country at this procedure, so I was in good hands. For those of you who may not know, I was suffering from a condition called Trigeminal Neuralgia, and had been from over 2 1/2 years.
If you have never heard of Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN), it is one of the most painful conditions known to man. Imagine sticking a taser to your face 20-30 times a day and leaving it there for about 20 seconds each time. That is what I was going through. The condition was getting worse by the day, there were no medications that I could take to alleviate my pain. Brain surgery was my only hope. I was not looking forward to having a hole drilled in the back of my skull, but I could not live with the pain any longer either. While TN is not considered a "life-threatening" illness, I believe in many ways it is worse because my quality of life was so poor. I couldn't eat, talk, or sleep without pain. I couldn't kiss my wonderful wife or amazing children without pain. The medications I took to help try to control the pain made me a zombie, (and in one case almost DID kill me). My job was being affected, my marriage, was being affected, my relationship with my children was being affected, and most importantly, my spiritual walk was being challenged.
I will never forget the first time I experienced what they call "acute" Trigeminal Neuralgia pain. I was actually taking a drink to swallow a new medicine the doctor had prescribed. When the glass touched my lip every nerve on the left side of my face fired at the same time. From my temple to my jawbone, every nerve was burning. This lasted for about 20 seconds, and I am not kidding when I tell you that had there been a gun on the kitchen counter, I would have shot myself to end the pain. The same thing happened during a meeting a work about 4 hours later, and I couldn't talk or explain what was happening, so they thought I was having a seizure or something and it freaked everyone out.
When the surgery was over, I was on some pretty good pain killers and other drugs, but I remember Dr. Tew telling me that this surgery was the only thing that would have eased my pain. There was an artery and a blood vessel fused to the trigeminal nerve in my brain by scar tissue. Dr. Tew removed the scar tissue and wrapped Teflon padding around the nerve. When I woke up, I could tell immediately that something was different; the pain was gone. My life would be restored. The moment would have been more complete had they not given me Percocet, which I had never taken and did not know would cause me to be vomitous for about 8 hours. The Dr. eventually switched me to Morphine and all was well.
Thus, three years ago today, that I stepped out of University Hospital a new man. I have not had one flash of pain since. There is a chance the pain could return someday, and there have been other side effects from the surgery. I had mild case of Bell's palsy, some numbness on my skull, and a small dent in the back of my head. I will take all of those for they remind me that life is so precious and there are so many things we take for granted. I thank God for Dr. Tew and the knowledge and skill that he has. I thank God for another day to share with my family and friends. I thank God that I have lived pain free for the past three years, and sincerely ask that be a trend that continues for a long time.
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