Butterfly seen in July trip to Hersey Park.

This summer has been the most uncomfortable for my shunt. I don’t remember the previous year being this awkward. Ever since the weather got more humid, I’ve had consistent nausea, shunt, scalp pain. In addition to right eye pain. I did however, have two weeks in June and three days this month were everything was perfect. There were rainbows and butterflies happily dancing inside my head. ( I use this as an example because seeing rainbows and butterflies outside makes me happy). Not feeling well from my injuries and shunt often brings down my mood and makes me less social and isolating. Sometimes I just want to stay home and read/draw because having to interact with a group of people is information overload on my brain.

My cat, Stella and I

When the days are really bad, I’ll refer to this photo

When I meet my new neurosurgeon, I’ll inquire about him checking the settings on my shunt. Most of my pain issues vary from recovering from my injuries to the shunt adjusting and readjusting every time I move my head. Checking the settings would make me feel better knowing it’s on the level it should be.

I do wish I could have a non programmable shunt valve. Unfortunately, there isn’t much I can do about this.

Non Adventures in brain injury and medical device land continues….

As expected, I will feel better when the fall arrives. The heat and humidity has caused me both neck, and scalp pain most of the summer. I did have a good two weeks before the weather reached above 90. I’m still trying to figure out how to sleep without disrupting my cerebral shunt or the chiari malformation type I from my injuries. I can’t sleep upside down, because I’m not a bat.  There are pillows for neck support which I’m looking into getting….

I went to see Incredibles 2 earlier this month with a friend. There was a strobe light warning before the movie and I don’t have a history of seizures, prior or after my brain injuries. Just to be safe, I closed my eyes or looked away during the scenes which included flashing lights. After the film, I felt a little dizzy and when I sat down again while eating, (I was in one of those bar stool chairs ) my sense of space was off and I felt awkward being elevated. This feeling was only temporary, I attribute this to the strobe lighting during the movie. Even though there was a warning about a seizure triggers, it made me wonder why the studio who made the film, would even include this effect at all. Overall, I enjoyed the movie and had a chance to get out for a few hours.

Sometime in 2015, my phone’s led light flickered for a second, it was about two feet away from where I was sitting.  I felt a throbbing sensation in the back of my head. This only happened once, although it made me wonder if this reaction was related to my brain injuries.