Category: pre-diagnosis

  • Chapter 15: Pre-operative testing

    Dustin had to do pretty extensive pre-operative (pre-op) testing before his scheduled awake craniotomy. He had the continuous EEG to monitor and record seizure activity. This allows the docs to adjust his anticonvulsant medications. Ideally, he would be going into the surgery seizure free as that is the safest. The other important testing prior to…

  • Chapter 14: The Epileptologist

    Now that you know the basic anatomy, function, and components of the brain, let’s talk about electricity. The brain is a complex network that communicates by sending electrical impulses. Sometimes these electrical impulses get blocked or stuck in a loop. Regardless of what you’re doing, your brain is always on and sending and receiving these…

  • Chapter 10: Wee-woo Wagon #2 and #3

    Monday, July 30th, 2018 started out a little groggy. We were both a little wiped from our weekend trip to Bloomington. However, we both were excited to get back to work like normal people. I had a fairly normal day working on the wards. Dustin’s day was also fairly normal. Whenever Dustin gets home from…

  • Chapter 9: Breaking the bad news

    It was Friday, July 27, 2018 and we were preparing ourselves for our weekend trip to Bloomington, Indiana to visit family and friends. This wasn’t our ordinary trip where we had loose plans to see people but would be generally fun and easy going. This the trip to our hometown to tell Dustin’s mom that…

  • Chapter 8: Complex Family Relationships

    Family is a difficult topic for me to discuss. My relationships with my family are very complex. I have a lovely relationship with the majority of our family but not everyone. I love my family even if I don’t like them. But I don’t need to be best friends with someone just because they are…

  • Chapter 7: Non-stop appointments

    After getting discharged a second time after getting a blood patch for a spinal CSF leak, we still had a lot of trips to the hospital for appointments over the next week. I still hadn’t been contacted to set up Dustin’s follow up appointments with a neurologist, so I worked on the consults my attendings…

  • Chapter 6: Back to the hospital

    Remember how Dustin had a lumbar puncture on Monday July 16th? Ever since his lumbar puncture any time he sits up he gets a pounding headache, gets nauseous, and the vomits. Every time. I had brought this up prior to being discharged yesterday, but they insisted that it was not uncommon after a lumbar puncture…

  • Chapter 5: Every day is exactly the same

    One of the things that initially attracted us to each other was our love for music. Not just any music, but Nine Inch Nails. We both had a profound love for industrial synth rock. Loud, weird, electronic rock has so many complex layers that resonates with so many parts of your soul. Some of our…

  • Chapter 4: July 11th, 2018 Part 2

    I’m combing through my brain of what the actual fuck is wrong with Dustin. I have to put aside that he’s my husband. The pesky fact remains that he’s the love of my life and I’m terrified. So I have to turn off wife mode and turn on provider mode. I start with the facts…

  • Chapter 3: Hierarchy in Medicine

    July is an interesting time of transition in academic hospitals where there is a huge influx of brand new physicians starting their residency program as an intern. But there is also a shift in the residency program from previous years. This results in a new batch of junior residents, senior residents, chief residents, and a…