Hi all,just wanted to check in and say hi and thanks for all the past support.Today is my birthday! The big 6-0!!! I feel great though.One year ago and a few weeks previous i was in tremendous unbearable level 10+ pain.I believe God eased it off enough that i could leave the house and ride to Dallas to undergo a GK procedure.It took 6 to 8 weeks for the pain to go away completely,but i've been pain free since and really try to appreciate every day.
I really don't recommend Gammaknife for TN as a solution.It has a reputation of not working at all and or not lasting.It was my choice because my TN was caused by a AVM.Another Bens Friends rare condition!It's basically a malformed vein that sometimes bleeds and causes a stroke.It is something i always had but never knew about until the TN pain drove me to have an angiogram when i was preparing for AVD surgery.My surgeon backed out fearing working so close to the AVM and sent me to a cancer doctor to have Cyberknife on the AVM.The thought being that shrinking the AVM would cure the TN.Well,the pain came back stronger than ever and that is what drove me to the Gammaknife procedure.I'm hoping that it gives me enough time for the AVM to shrink and hopefully never again "tickle" my trigeminol nerve.Sorry for the long post just to say hi and Thanks!God bless you all that suffer.I pray you all find your own solution.I still recall the feeling all too well and fear of it returning stays with me.