I warned everyone in the blog description that I was going to be very real with my posts. Things are going to get pretty real with this one, so if you are the faint of heart don't read any further. Just kidding-it's not that bad.
Having hydrocephalus has caused an abundance of tears for me, my family, and close friends. But it has also caused some humorous moments. I can't believe that I am going to share some of these for the world to see but hey, it happens to the best of us. We are all human.
It's no secret that many people with hydrocephalus have memory problems. I have always had issues with short term memory and it has got increasingly worse in the last two years. One time a fellow hydrocephalic (and good friend) and I went out to lunch. When we were leaving the establishment, neither one of us could remember where I parked my car. Luckily it was a small parking lot and we were able to locate it after a few minutes. But after that incident, my husband decided that maybe it was best if we didn't go out in public alone anymore.
Going in for surgery is very nerve wracking. One of the surgeries that I had in 2013, I was particularly nervous for some reason. My stomach was in knots! I was feeling kind of gassy if you know what I mean. To my horror, I woke up from surgery actively tooting. I had absolutely no control over it! I tried to stop it but it wasn't happening. And guess who was standing at the end of my gurney in the recovery room? My anesthesiologist. I don't know if he heard them or not. At the time it seemed like I was blowing a trumpet but I don't think it was really that bad. Luckily there was no odor that I know of anyway.
Let's fast forward to last year. As I discussed before, I had pancreatitis in November and December. I didn't eat for about three weeks except for bananas and dry toast occasionally. I needed emergency surgery the beginning of December. The hospital food was the only thing that I had eaten in weeks and apparently my stomach and bowels weren't too happy about it. If I recall correctly, I was waiting for my husband to bring our son for a visit and I had fallen asleep listing to music. Suddenly I woke up in a panic wondering where I was and I started having severe stomach cramps. I grabbed my body spray out of my bag because I knew it was going to be a doozy and ran into the bathroom in my room. As I was having explosive diarrhea, I was literally hoping and praying that the other patients near my room couldn't hear what was happening in that bathroom.
So I finished up my business, washed my hands and sprayed the good smelling body spray. I walked out of the bathroom feeling better but was surprised to see my doctor right by the bathroom door waiting for me. I was mortified! I literally screamed when I saw him and of course that gave him a chuckle. I clutched the body spray against my chest like it was my life preserver. I kept wondering how long was he standing there and why couldn't he have come back later to check on me when he saw the bathroom door closed?!? To this day I don't know if he heard anything or not but it was hard for me to look him in the eye the next time I saw him. Yes I know doctors are used to this kind of thing but still... MORTIFIED!
Lastly my fellow hydrocephalic friend called me the night before my surgery on April 3rd. I thought she was calling to wish me luck. She asked what I was doing and I mentioned that I just got done with my antibacterial shower. She asked why I was doing that and I explained that as she knows, we have to do an antibacterial shower the night before and morning of surgery. She was confused and said that my surgery was the next week. I said no, it's tomorrow. Then she asked if I was sure and we both cracked up. I'm starting to think that having a good friend with a memory just as bad as mine will be quite fun over the years.
Well I hope this post gave you a chuckle. At the time some of this occurred, laughter was the last thing on my mind but it's funny now. If you can't laugh at the embarrassing things your bowels do to you, what can you laugh at?
This blog is about living my life with Hydrocephalus. I acquired it shortly after birth so I have many experiences to share. I will be very open about my journey. Feel free to comment, ask questions, suggest a topic for me to write about and share the posts. Please keep in mind that I am just one person out of millions. We may not all share the same symptoms and experiences but we can certainly be there for one another. Thanks for reading!!
