Speedy recovery required

My bestest friend goes into hospital tomorrow.



Christmas Day 2002 she came down with a migraine and it stayed...for the next 5 months. Doctors finally diagnosed Trigeminal Neuralgia which is, apparently, one of the most painful conditions known to man. Basically, a blood vessel inside the skull presses onto the trigeminal nerve, causing excruciating and constant pain. So, in May 2003, they operated. They drilled a hole in her skull and placed a piece of Teflon in between the nerve and the blood vessel and then stapled her up again. Things definitely improved and the pain lessened, although it didn't go away. Then, after a few months, it started to get worse again and for the last year she has once again been in constant pain. In order to deal with the pain, she is taking super strength prescription painkillers which often leave her floating in a twilight world. She can't work, is no longer allowed to drive and has had to move back home to Wales to live with her parents. She tries her best to live as normal a life as possible but most days the pain and/or the drugs render her incapable of functioning.



So tomorrow she goes back into hospital and on Tuesday they are going in for another look. Possibly the Teflon has slipped and will just need putting back into place...that's the best case scenario. It is possible that something else inside her skull was disturbed during the first operation - that's the middle-case scenario. The surgeon has intimated that Trigeminal Neuralgia may not have even been the original problem - that's the worst case scenario. If it's not that, what the hell is causing the pain.



So, good doctors at the Heath Hospital, do your stuff and make my friend all better again.