{"id":622,"date":"2009-05-02T15:25:08","date_gmt":"2009-05-02T22:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tracysigler.heavydutyincorporated.com\/?page_id=622"},"modified":"2011-07-10T09:20:59","modified_gmt":"2011-07-10T16:20:59","slug":"this-sucks-now-what","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tracysigler.com\/blog\/brain-surgery-experience\/this-sucks-now-what\/","title":{"rendered":"This Sucks. Now What?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"View<\/a>

View of the colloid cyst from the side. It's small, but it can be deadly. In my case it was a headache that would last for weeks and would occur a few times a year.<\/p><\/div>\n

That same day or the next I remember crying about it to my wife who remained rock-solid, at least on the surface, throughout the entire ordeal. Somehow, I got it together and enjoyed the next few days and weekend in an unusually sanguine state. At this point I still didn’t know what was going on, but I thought somehow the experience I was in for would help me be more motivated to live my life on purpose. So, that meant I was even luckier than I had previously thought.<\/p>\n

The next week I was scheduled for an MRI. After an initial call with the hospital where it would be done I was told that I would need to have an “orbital X-ray” to make sure there weren’t any pieces of metal in my eyes. I answered “Yes” to “Have you ever done any welding or grinding?” With that out of the way I went for my MRI. I asked the tech if I could look at the scans when we were done. That was the first time I had a good look at what was in my brain. I would later find out that I had Colloid Cyst and a Dermoid Cyst.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>

This is my angry face! RRRRrrrr!!! That white blob is the dermoid cyst. It started behind my nose and went well into the brain behind my forehead.<\/p><\/div>\n

I am a year round bicycle commuter. The day after my MRI I was expecting a call from my doctor that morning. I was on my way to work, riding a fixed-gear track bike, and I became distracted with thoughts about what my doctor would tell me. Lesson learned: Do not ride a track bike while thinking about anything else. I stood up going over a rough patch and stopped pedaling. Since you cannot stop pedaling on a track bike I was launched over the handlebars going over 20MPH. In addition to breaking my helmet, I completely crushed my clavicle, broke three ribs, and a bunch of more minor injuries. I managed to start breathing again a few minutes after I came to, repair my bike to barely rideable condition, and hobble my way the three miles back home. My wife took me and the kids to the emergency room. A few hours later I was back and my doctor, who couldn’t reach me at work, called me at home. “Since I have you on the phone can I also get a referral to an orthopedist to go with the neurosurgeon referral?” That was September. In October I had surgery on my clavicle and thus began my collection of titanium plates and screws. Another story for another day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That same day or the next I remember crying about it to my wife who remained rock-solid, at least on the surface, throughout the entire ordeal. Somehow, I got it together and enjoyed the next few days and weekend in an unusually sanguine state. At this point I still didn’t know what was going on, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":614,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-brain.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-622","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracysigler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracysigler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracysigler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracysigler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracysigler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/tracysigler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":988,"href":"https:\/\/tracysigler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/622\/revisions\/988"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracysigler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracysigler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}