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Fri. Oct 28, 2011

Brain Matters: My First BrainDay

Some who’ve been through this call it their “Annie”-versary, Annie being the nickname they’ve given their aneurysm. I never gave mine a nickname, and if I had, it would have been “The Little Bastard.”

But, at this moment one year ago, there were fingers in my brain. Extremely talented fingers, performing a most delicate task. The chief of neurosurgery at Emory, Dr. Daniel Barrow, was using a tiny titanium clip to block off the blood flow to the unruptured aneurysm on my right main cerebral artery.

One year later, it’s as if it didn’t happen. I mean, yes, the problem is just as extinct as it was post surgery, but I am very very very fortunate that I’ve had no side effects and no adverse post surgery reactions.

Well, my right temple is slightly more concave than my left, due to some atrophy of the temporalis muscle, likely due to nerve damage. But compared to the troubles many experience after having similar surgery, that hardly even seems worth mentioning.

I’ve had no memory issues, no headaches (literally, not one since I left the hospital), no personality changes, no seizures … nothing, except for normal life. As I said a month after surgery, the entire ordeal was perhaps 20% as painful and traumatic as I had anticipated.

And on a day like today, I think it’s important to note and remember just how freakin’ fortunate I have been. And to thank those who made it happen: Dr. Daniel Barrow and the staff at Emory Hospital, and my wife, for getting me through recovery.

Even my hair is “all better”!