Sunday 3 June 2012

May The Fourth Be With You


In July I'll be having a fourth operation on my neck.  In the time between visits to the neurosurgeon he decided on a slight change of approach, only inserting the shunt near the base of my brain.  He felt that if that shunt did the job, the one he'd proposed lower in the spine wouldn't be required.  He showed some videos of a similar procedure being performed, it was pretty interesting to see what it would be like and helped to get a better feel for what would take place.  It also looks my current scar, which runs just up past my collar, will be extended a lot further up my neck and onto my head and will be a lot more prominent.  This doesn't bother me too much - I don't have to see it!
As I've found is typical with these  things, the doctors aren't very willing to promise too much with regards to any positive results, and given this is my fourth operation and all of the issues I've had so far it was more of the same here.   As I've been having a steady decline in my hand functions and continuing issues with my balance and dizzy spells, I felt that it was worthwhile having the operation despite the possibility it wouldn't have a positive result, or even halt the progression of my illness.  I'd hate to look back and regret not having done everything possible to try and get the best outcomes for my health.
Now it's time to try and get as fit and healthy as possible prior to the operation so that my recovery is as short as possible.  I'd really like to build up to a 10k run beforehand, but given the time frame and my current fitness levels I think I'll have to set the bar a little lower.

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