Brain Surgery and Memory

Continuing on the Brain tumour, and Brain surgery theme. I thought I would share some of the things I experienced very early on in my recovery. I lost my memory and a lot of the "automatic" things I used to be able to do. I can not sew without and pattern and detailed step by step instructions. I had to reteach myself how to knit. I had to relearn my camera and my photography. I have had to and continue to relearn my life, where I came from, where I was going and what I was interested in. It has been very challenging at times
This is something I wrote for my friends and family a month after my brain surgery 

Brains.... Why they are so important

If you have ever wondered WHY I do so much fundraising for the various cancer councils and brain research institutions, apart from having had my own brain tumour, this is a little bit of information about Brain Tumours

Twilight Bay Run 2012

I did it :)

The weeks leading up to the run were hard with my epilepsy medication mix up. I missed the Bridge to Brisbane due to the medication mix up so I was pretty unhappy about that. I wasn't able to train at all for this run until the day before. I also had a seizure that day so things were still not ideal.

1 Year 7 months

I have been a bit slow getting this one up. Sunday was 19 months post op so I'm only a couple of days late.

School has been going really well. I have asked to do and extra unit which will knock off one of the core units for a Cert IV or Diploma. I now know I CAN do this. I was a bit terrified that I would not be able to remember anything long enough to make it through this dual cert and that by the time assessment came around I would have forgotten everything. As it turns out my problem has been stopping and taking time out.

The things we don't expect

I woke up extra early the morning of the Bridge to Brisbane with an excruciating headache. I went back to sleep for another 30 minutes in the hope that it would be gone when I woke up. It was still there so I had to pull out of the B2B. I got up, had breakfast and my medication and went straight back to bed. Three hours later I woke up and STILL had the vile headache. I spent the rest of the day on the couch watching Stargate and popping painkillers.

Monday morning it was still there so I went to TAFE anyway. Still there all week  so I made an appointment with my GP. After 3 days of screaming head pain I was starting to wonder if my tumour was growing back. Fast forward to Monday this week. Still had a screaming headache! I went to see my GP and through chance we discovered that the pharmacy had given me a lower strength dose of my anti-epileptic medication. So I had been taking 10% of my normal dose since August 23rd.

I now have the right medication and am slowly ramping back up to my original dose. It will take a few weeks to get back to "normal". Meanwhile I have the twilight Bay run on the 22nd. I saw my physio yesterday and had a seizure while I was there so I have been banned from long walks on my own, no running, and I can only use the treadmill if i have someone to baby sit me. VERY FRUSTRATING. So until the medication starts working again I have a vile headache and am very much restricted. I have more school and am hoping that it doesn't interfere too much.

Today I went and saw the pharmacist who was horrified and extremely apologetic about the whole thing. I did point out that had I been driving when I had the first seizure people could have died. Consequently I now have a box of my proper medication and my scripts updated.

Tomorrow I have to finish off the blood test I started this morning and then make appointments with my new neurologist and the Logan Heart Centre. Ah life when did you get so busy?

I hope you are all well and happy ♥