After 3 rounds of the trigger-point steroid injections, Dr. C suggested that I look into this surgery and gave me a list of a few surgeons to look into as well. Most were in my state, but one was in Chicago. I did my research, shared with my family, and we decided to go with Dr. Sashank Reddy at John Hopkins.
When my father and I met with the surgeon, we had my mother on speakerphone as well. We spoke about the process of the procedure and what recovery would be like. I am posting the link below to their page, which describes the surgery and treatment, but will describe my experience below.
We got to the outpatient center and got all checked in. When in the last leg of prep, Dr. Reddy came to speak with us and let my parents know the expected amount of time. When he came out, he asked if I had on any other jewelry that I needed to take off. Thanking him for the reminder, I removed my nose and ear piercings before realizing that I did not know how to get the daith piercing out. He told me that if we were unable to get it out, he would not be performing the surgery. He described to me what would happen if I still had metal in my body… We quickly spread word among the nurses that we needed someone familiar with that piercing to get it out – of course I had the heart-shaped one and could not see to save my life…
They were ready to cut the earring altogether, and I was just about ready as well when an older woman comes running over and says, “Alright honey, let me take a look! I don’t think that we need to cut it out… ”
She used a set of plyers very gently and was able to loosen the piercing and get it out. Everyone in the room cheered. Thank god for that woman. This is why nurses are so important!!
They took me into the back and all I remember was them asking me how I felt and a bunch of other questions, as I jokingly told them that I apologize if they “see anything they didn’t wanna see”. Love cracking jokes when I’m nervous as hell. I don’t remember much after that besides waking up in a chair. My head had been partially shaved and this part could feel the air passing by my hair and fresh stitches. Dr. Ready made two incisions in the back of my head, toward my neck. He scraped a lot of built up scar tissue from around the occipital nerves. He was confident that he got it all.
The recovery process was rough. I was constantly in pain. I had to sleep with gauges under my head and put cream on it every so often. I was told that I needed to retrain the nerves in the back of my head, so every day I had to take a shower and let the water hit my stitches for a decent amount of time. Over time, I understood why they wanted el to do this. I remember being in excruciating pain. I cried a lot.
One thing I noticed immediately after surgery – my bf was driving me to a dispensary when I realized that I could look at the car lights across the road from us without hiding or blocking them with my hands, or without my eyes watering. Well, I lied about the last part bc it made me emotional knowing that I had a chance of driving at night again!!
The surgery was seen to be a success and I had to begin physical therapy. Around this time, the covid outbreak began. I did physical therapy for a bit in person and once the situation got worse, I decided to continue my exercises from home.
Everything improved over the course of a few months. I had less migraines and could drive at night again. My light sensitivity seemed like it wasn’t much of an issue anymore. This lasted until November 17, 2020.
Next time – what reversed my progress? Some of you already know, but I can’t wait to tell you more. Thank you for reading.
Bluntly Bookish in Baltimore 