Fun in the operating room.

Had an interesting experience yesterday. I have been battling Trigeminal Neuralgia for a couple years now . It was originally thought to be TMJD .
( temporal mandibular joint disorder) but now diagnosed as Trigeminal Neuralgia. The Trigeminal Nerve is the major facial nerve . Symptoms are facial pain - jaw , earache , headache, teeth - blah blah blah. All hurts , all the time .
Treated with nerve blockers for a while ( Gabapentin, Carbamazepine) and while the meds took the edge off and definitely helped they are very sedative and I was becoming very lethargic and sleeping my life away . The causes of this disease are varied - among them arterial compression of the nerve. For this the fix is pretty intense . The neurosurgeon drills a hole in your skull behind your ear and inserts a sponge between the artery and nerve . Thankfully in my case two MRI’s and a CT scan showed that this was not the case . There is increasing suspicion ( but no certainty) in the Medical world that it may be caused by the early Pfizer CoVid vaccine. I received the first round available because my wife and daughter both worked in nursing
homes . I don’t know what caused it in my case and the doctors can’t say with any certainty but the timeline fits . I am not anti vaccination by any stretch and the world was in panic mode at the time and most ( including me ) were glad to have the vaccine.
The procedure I went through yesterday is called Radio Frequency
Rhizotomy . Under anesthesia a long needle is inserted through your cheek and brought into contact with the Trigeminal nerve. I believe it is guided by ultrasonic means . When the surgeon believes he is there they bring you out of anesthesia briefly and feed in a little current and gauge your reaction. If the team is confident they are in the right spot they put you immediately back under and burn ( ablation) the nerve .
Norton disease must be very powerful- apparently when they brought me out I immediately sat up on the table and wanted to go for a ride !
Glad they all had a sense of humor.
Good news is my condition is very much improved.

Glad to hear that you are on the UPSWING!

Sounds gruesome but I hope it does the trick

Good news! Onwards & upwards Richard!

Hope everything turns out good Rich.

Thanks all for well wishes - The Rhizotomy has a 90 % success rate and it has already made a big difference. I just received my schedule for dosing down the Carbamazepine so I hope to be off the pills in short while . Unfortunately there is a 40% rate of reoccurrence after a few years but hopefully I will be in the 60% group - thinking positive and glad for the relief however long !

Good odds .... I dare say a repeat Rhizo would be possible if needed ?

Glad to hear the procedure was successful Richard. I'm sure it feels good to be getting your energy back. Your grand babies need it!

Grandad said:

Good odds .... I dare say a repeat Rhizo would be possible if needed ?

Click to expand...

Thanks- the Rhizotomy is repeatable - they can also do essentially the same thing with radiation so if needed that is an option..

So now you have solid analysis and a sound method to deal with it.
Good job on keeping your affliction from taking over...getting old ain't easy and requires ongoing work and attention to keep the old man at bay.
Well done, you have a long way to go RT.

Nice to hear good news Richard.

Most of us here are interested in technology. I wish I had pictures of the operating room - They walked me in and my jaw dropped, literally. I have never seen so much high tech stuff in my life .
It looked like a movie set for some sci fi flick . I have no idea what most it was for but I was just blown away .

Richard, take the doctors to your garage and show them what real tools look like...