To start this off

Monday, March 19, 2012

            Good morning  Its 11:00 am. I decided to start this and try to keep up on it. As you know I have been dealing with very bad headaches. I have been for a few years now (at its worse). So everyone is updated on to where I am at now I will give a little back ground info. I have been to the doctor and emergency room many times. I started to make progress back in July 2011. I had went to the ER (again complaining of a headache) the pain this time was extremely bad and I was experiencing what was called a “complex migraine” I had numbness to the right side of my face/right arm and leg. Complex migraine type headaches are very rare. The ER doctor was amazing!! (Thank you so much Dr Mackey and ED staff) Prior to the ER visit in July I could not get my primary doctor to send me to neurology or even explore my complaint in detail. Within hours of being in the ER Dr Mackey got me a neurology referral for the next week. I met with the neurologist and was then sent to the pain clinic at Kaiser South Sacramento. I then meet another wonderful person, DR Youssefi that gave me the diagnosis of “occipital neuralgia”. This condition involves injury or damage to the “occipital nerve” that runs out of the upper part of the neck. In my case it looks like there is a pinch in the nerve. Just about every day I experience some type of headache. The pain can be very minimal to very severe. Having a feeling of electricity going from the back to the front of the head is the best way to describe it. I have been through many different procedures including nerve blocks and radio frequency ablations (if you want more detail on this please feel free to ask) I had my last RF procedure a month or so ago. As expected it did not work very well. My pain clinic dr had then sent me to neurosurgery for placement of an “occipital nerve stimulator” This is a device that provides a very small amount of electrical stimulation to the nerve. It includes electrodes that are implanted around the nerve and connects to a implanted battery pack. In my case the electrodes will be on the center/right side of my head and the battery will be in my lower back. This device runs 24/7 and has preset settings throughout the time of day. I can also manually over ride the system and increase or decrease the amount of stimulation. After placement I will be given detailed instructions and a small control device to operate the system. If you would like more detail please feel free to ask me. This was a very hard decision for me to make, but from talking with my amazing wife Nicole, my family and all the doctors this is my best chance of living without pain (or at least cutting it down). After meeting with the neurosurgeon (Dr Pappas) I found that he is also amazing. He was very calm and down to earth. He had told me that he has been following my case for a while now (with the help of Dr Youssefi. He also assured me that this option would be the best and we chose to move forward with it. I am currently on the “waiting list” for surgery. As I think about it I am both very nervous and excited at the same time. I know I have a fantastic wife Nicole, my parents and family/friends to support me. Now some may ask, “How long will you be out of work?”  I have asked Dr Pappas the same questions. From what I am told I will be out 3-4 weeks. I have also been told that the first month is going to “Suck Ass”  I spoke with the scheduling coordinator for neurosurgery and she is currently working on getting me an exact date for surgery. Until then I am going to attempt to keep this blog updated and answer all questions I can. Please continue to send me your positive energy J I hope everyone is doing well. J JR