I don’t remember how long ago the timeline got changed, but it’s been a while. And then life starts happening and writing blog entries gets shoved into the back of your head until a month later when you start thinking, “When’s the last time I wrote something? Oh gosh… life definitely started happening…”
The original date for the start of SEEG testing was June 17th, which didn’t work for the neurosurgeon, so it got pushed back until July 8th. And I don’t know where the scheduling conflict arose or for whom, but I got a call saying that July 8th wasn’t going to work anymore, so they were rescheduling the testing to start on June 10th instead. Is that coming up soon? Yes, it’s coming up very soon.
My current concern isn’t related to being nervous—my current concern is finishing everything that needs to be done before the 10th. I had a dental appointment about a week ago for the first time in two years, during which time they decided I needed a few fillings as well as a root canal. (So go get your routine dental cleanings done, kids!) That in itself isn’t a problem—this isn’t the first time my teeth have required some excessive work—but given the circumstances, it means I’m suddenly in a time crunch.
For those of you who’ve never had surgery before, a lot of dentists have policies regarding surgical procedures: you have to wait for six months before they start poking around in your month again. It’s not an industry-wide rule, but it makes sense: if you somehow get an infection from getting your teeth cleaned, that yucky stuff is going to get in your blood stream and head straight to the place where you recently had surgery. Getting an infection in my knee after having my ACL replaced? Wouldn’t have been a big deal. Getting an infection in my brain after staying in the hospital this summer? Yeah, okay, that could be considered a bigger deal.
And so I needed to schedule two additional dental appointments within the span of about three weeks, ’cause if it ain’t gettin’ done now, it may not get done until 2026. That sounds… unappealing to say the least.
If there’s anywhere I need to drive or errands I need to run, a similar issue arises. State law in Minnesota says that when you have an involuntary loss of consciousness, your driver’s license is supposed to be suspended for three months. Grand mal seizures definitely qualify as a loss of consciousness and they’ll be trying to induce seizures during SEEG testing for the sake of gathering data. So who’s got two thumbs and won’t be driving until mid-September at the earliest?
This guy! (Admittedly, that doesn’t have the same effect when you can’t see my thumbs pointing back at myself, but still…)
So if I need to schedule any other appointments or get something from the store that I’ll need in a month or two or just want to go cruising, I’ve got a limited window of time that seems like it’s closing faster and faster.
Granted, I accept that. I’m not upset with needing to get everything done NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!!! I much prefer having SEEG testing scheduled a month sooner than originally planned, get it done and move on to the final step of full-blown brain surgery, then see where things go from there. That also means I have a shorter period of time to go shopping for hats or buy sunscreen for my scalp (they’ll need to shave my head so there’s no hair in the way for putting the sensors into my skull in June or putting a device inside there a month or two later…), but I’ll survive. If I don’t—if the lack of something to wear on my head is what finally kills me—then it was bound to happen pretty soon regardless. There are a lot of corners of cupboards to hit or floors to slip on or just swallowing my spit funny… something was gonna do me in. Since it hasn’t yet and presumably won’t soon, I better make plans to survive a little while longer, which means I better not wait until next year to get my teeth fixed.
Leave a Reply