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Personal Stories - sent to the Dallas TNA office |
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January 24, 2008 Mine started when I was 6 months old, have had them all my life, the longest I have gone without one is 1.5 years, on average I have TN only 3-4 times a year; they only hit me when I am sleeping -- never when I have been awake, however one did hit me when I was in the hospital but I think that it was because they were trying to give me Castor oil (just the smell of that stuff would bring George Washington back to life)-- just joking! I have had them last up to 6 hours, but let me tell you one thing: when they hit me hard if there was a gun around I would have shot myself, and I am very responsible around fire arms! This is all I have to say as of now, but might have more to say later, and one more thing if you have to live with the pain of trigeminal neuralgia: YOU ARE A HERO AND SOMEONE TO LOOK UP TO! Remember that.
December 21, 2007 I had my first episode in June 2001 and went to my dentist thinking it had to be tooth related. After two root canals and no relief, the dentist recommended I see a neurologist who immediately diagnosed me with TN. He briefly described the disorder and put me on Trileptol. He made some mention about maybe having surgery later on to place a “pillow” on nerve behind the ear if the medication did not work. I didn’t like the sound of that and assumed the medication would work which it did for awhile. I continued to have episodes (on average, about one to two a year lasting about one to two months at a time) but each time the pain got a little worse until late last year when it reached the point that I couldn’t eat, talk or brush my teeth without pain. Increased medication only made me drowsy and disoriented. I finally decided to seriously research possible surgical alternatives. I joined TNA, read “Striking Back” from cover-to-cover, and decided the MVD procedure was how I wanted to go. I also talked to several people who were on TNA’s referral list who had had the MVD surgery, all with good success. I traveled to Dallas to meet with Dr. Jonathan White at Southwestern Medical School. Dr. White has performed numerous MVD surgeries and is very active in TNA. While very impressed I wanted to consider another surgeon in Houston since that is my home. At least two of the referrals I had talked to recommended Dr. Rob Parrish, a neurosurgeon at Houston’s Methodist Hospital Med Center (713-441-3849). I met with Dr. Parrish in February 2007 and decided that he would be my surgeon. Then a funny thing happened. The pain went back into remission and since the “roof was no longer leaking”, I decided to postpone “repairing the roof”. Bad mistake! It returned in October 2007 and by mid November the pain was the worst I had ever suffered with no sign of letting up. It was almost constant. I called Dr. Parrish's office for an appointment with the intent to going straight to surgery if he could get me in. We met on November 29. Dr. Parrish initially told me that his schedule was completely booked until December 20 when he was scheduled to leave for the holidays. I guess the look on my face convinced him that I really couldn’t wait that long. He rearranged his schedule to get me in on December 5, only 6 days later. His staff worked diligently to get me through all the pre-op screenings (I already had the MRI’s and CAT scan from the initial examination) and took care of the insurance approvals in time for the surgery. I was in surgery at 9:30 am on the 5th and in recovery by 12 pm. By the time I got to ICU and had regained consciousness, the pain was completely gone! I spent that night in ICU but by morning was feeling quite good. Dr. Parrish visited that morning and after checking my chart decided to release me to go home. I was back in my own bed by 1 pm that afternoon – slightly more than a day after I went in! Over the next few days I experienced some nausea and the normal discomfort and listlessness associated with head trauma but my strength steadily improved and my appetite was back to normal within a few days. I returned to Dr. Parrish’s office on Dec. 17 for a checkup and to have the staples removed. All is well so far and I am scheduled back in a month for a final check. I returned to work (part time) the next morning but I don’t expect to be back to full strength for another several weeks. My special thanks to Dr. Parrish and his staff for making this a very Merry Christmas for me and my family. Alan Stumbaugh
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