Don't Give Up!

Boy is it frustrating when you don't feel well, you have medical problems and no one seems to be able to figure it out!  You want to give up! 

It plays out as: you go to the doctor with a medical problem and they either cannot find the problem or they tell you that what they have found, "shouldn't be causing you problems."  They tell you that your problem isn't really a problem....essentially.  Boy that is frustrating.  Especially if you know that it is the cause of your symptoms.  You just know, in your heart of hearts, that the diagnosis you've been given is the root of all your symptoms.  But your doctor(s) keep telling you that your diagnosis shouldn't be causing your symptoms.  And in that case, good luck convincing your doctor.

That was exactly what I had to deal with when my cyst was diagnosed - my brain cyst.  Doctors just kept telling me that my symptoms shouldn't be, and weren't being caused by my cyst.  I was essentially being told to "get over it."  I was told that my type of cyst is normally asymptomatic and shouldn't be causing my problems.  Hmmmmm!  A gigantic water balloon on my brain and none of the neurological symptoms I was experiencing were being caused by the large water balloon.  It made no sense.

For months, as I continued to go downhill and developed one frightening symptom after another, I begged for help.  When help didn't come, I had to take matters, and my health, into my own hands.  I got second opinions, I read about brain cysts online....as much information I could find about them anyways.  I read about the brain in general....what the different parts are responsible for.  And I began to put two-and-two together, and what I determined was that yes!  My brain cyst was the problem and now, I just had to get a doctor to believe me and one that understood these brain cysts better than other doctors.  Better than the doctors who had examined me so far.  So I put my investigative hat on and found a doctor in Arizona who was very well informed on brain cysts - very knowledgeable.

He operated, fenestrating my cyst first, then 4 months later inserting a shunt.  Everything was going well, until that fateful day when I met the doctor who would cause me more problems than what I started with.  Another disbelieving, non-trusting and finger-pointing doctor.  I will share that part of the story in my next post.....what this guy caused for me.  But I wasn't going to give up....I never did.  I almost did and there was a day when I seriously considered ending it all, but in the end, I fought to get the help and care I knew I needed.