Has been a while since i came on here, had to have an elective Embolization and Craniotomy at the New QE Hospital in Birmingham, Dr Thomas and Mr Gan did the procedures as the symptoms i was getting from my AVM were getting worse, extreme Vertigo and losing feeling in my left hand and v.bad headaches, plus getting fatigued quickly.
Has been 5 weeks since my Operations but am starting to get some symptoms back which i thought had gone, my hand gets numb again and the dizzyness/vertigo has returned over the last 3 days and i feel sometimes like i need to equalise the pressure in my ears like on a plane but it just doesnt happen.
Still have another 3 weeks or so until my skull has fully healed, so will see how i get on.
Forgot to add that it was a 12 hour operation for both parts and when i woke up it was the most horrific pain i've ever felt in my life, lasted 6 days of me literally screaming every few hours.
I was in the Army up until a few years ago and cracked my skull in an incident and that hurt a lot but this was hopefully as close as i get to agony.
I had to have a spinal tap to see if there was an infection, the spinal tap also hurt but not as much as my head as the guy doing it couldn't get it right and after 40 minutes of trying had to get someone else to have a go.
Got sent for another couple of scans and it turns out i had air trapped inside my skull, and there was literally nothing they could do until it was re-absorbed into my brain.
Took another few days and then it just disappeared, am 32 and am not ashamed to say that i was crying like a baby for hours each day, the morphine and codeine i was on barely touched it.
I'm sorry about the pain, Wayne, that sounds awful. I'm so glad you are past that now and look forward to your full recovery. I wonder whether the trauma from your initial skull fracture triggered this AVM -- did the doctors mention that possibility? Get some rest, and be very patient with yourself for the next couple of months.
Wayne, I know how you feel. It is some of the worst pain I've been through but it didn't last forever. Morphine was my friend however. I think the spinal taps are the worst (I developed meningitis after my crani so I had to have one of those about every week until they were sure it had cleared up.
Those days are behind you now and nothing but good stuff coming!
