Hey! Hey!
This is it! Part 2 of the season 1 finale of Not just a headache, honey! I just know you’ve all been on the edge of your seats wondering if the blood patch worked or not so here’s how it played out!
*drum roll please …*
The morning after my blood patch, I very tentatively sat upright feeling about 90% petrified and 10% hopeful. After a few minutes, I felt no pain. Nothing. Like literally no headache!! Oh my goodness, it was enough to nearly bring me to tears (I know, dramatic right?)!
Was my leak really sealed …
Still slightly convinced it was too good to be true, I very slowly made my way to the bathroom and again I remained headache-less. In my world, this was nothing short of a miracle: in the space of just 1 month I had gone from symptoms beginning to being headache free! Never have I received a diagnosis and treatment so fast for anything and in the space of just 4 weeks I was now back to being headache free!
Every member of staff who came in and looked cautiously at me was met with the most enthusiastic performance of the words my head doesn’t hurt! The headache is gone! I was on cloud 9 because believe me it’s amazing how quickly you forget what it’s like to not have a headache when you have one that’s present all the time.
If you’re still with me, we’re going to need to take a step, hell no a leap, backwards because yeah, we have got way too ahead of ourselves!
Too good to be true …
During lunch, well specifically 12:45, the headache returned (I know this because I called my dad hysterically crying about it).
My emotions were definitely heightened in that moment, but everything just seemed so unfair. I knew going into the blood patch there was about a 60% chance of success first time around, and often the procedure has to be repeated. However, that didn’t even remotely begin to rationalise the thoughts of why did it have to not work and why just for once couldn’t my body have cooperated that were currently circling around my mind.
In spite of my irritation at the world, and the fact I was now back at war with gravity, I could still be discharged as long as I promised to stick to the guidelines of none of the following:
- Bending
- Twisting
- Heavy lifting
- Going to for a run, or to the gym (this one was specific to my consultant knowing me a bit too well)
After being given the all clear to leave at about 7:30pm, the car journey home was a quiet one.
The not so glamorous reality …
I’d taken everything over the past week in my stride, and dealt with the invasive procedure like a champion (if I do say so myself!). Despite this, I remained lumbered with a new box of trauma to metaphorically pack away somewhere in the depths of my mind.
By the time we arrived at home, my head was as painful as it had been before the admission which in my mind made the previous week seem entirely pointless.
I contemplated the idea of having the epidural blood patch procedure repeated deep into the early hours of the morning. Some would argue having a medical procedure done for the first time is the worst because there is the fear of the unknown, but for me the idea of having it done and knowing what was to come the whole procedure seen even scarier than the unknown.
It could only happen to me!
X O X O
Your favourite headache
Next time … the impact of extended bed rest on my mental health
I’m still a believer and I don’t know why ~ Mirrorball, Taylor Swift, Folklore
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