boomerang again

I'm not sure what triggered the following chain of events.
But I must have been glitching in some significant way because my watchful sister called me in, and my marching orders were to turn myself in to the ER.  After some imaging the hypothesis was that my shunt was clogged, so ambulance ride to Iowa City, for another brain surgery. to resolve the clog.
Thanks dad for doing the research and telling me what it's called Third ventriculostomy.  Before this procedure I was having terrible headaches now I barely have a mild daily headache.

I started out in my own room in the neurosurgery ICU but then I was moved to a lesser floor where I acquired a roommate My roommate was an ancient woman named Lucy.  Patients like Lucy and I are labeled fall risk and are not allowed to get out of bed without assistance, this makes timing bathroom trips very tricky.And Lucy provided some entertainment one night.  Poor thing needed help with something but either couldn't find or couldn't operate her call light. So she started throwing items from her tray table toward the door.  This included various cutlery from her dinner tray.  i used my call light to summon some assistance for lucy. THe nurses were suprised by the litter in our room.

But I suspect that help arrived too late for Lucy because soon I could smell the cause of her crisis.

I don't know the timeline but after being in the hospital for a relatively short amount of time I was discharged to Acute Rehab in my hometown.

Needless  to say I would have completely missed the Thanksgiving holiday if not for my bff Rose visiting from Massachusetts and hanging out with me in Acute Rehab. and playing Rumicube with me.  Thanks Rose, you're the best!!!!and thank you also for the new bluetooth speaker. 

The first thing I did when I got home was to use the bathroom without first asking permission and without being watched.  It was glorious.  Simple things. 

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leftmost button shown is called the fart recycler

I am so grateful to tons of friends and family for looking out for me so closely.  As I recovered from eyebrow craniotomy, my mother in law arranged for daily visitors for me.  One day very near labor day, my lunch visitor (Ami, of dream-snack denier fame) arrived to find me doing poorly.  She had to call 911 on me, I don't remember the events that followed (thank goodness!), but it was concluded that I had cerebral spinal fluid built up in my brain.  I got an ambulance ride to Iowa City and had a temporary emergency brain drain installed: commercial break:  cerebrospinal fluid is a beautiful yellow color with a touch of greenish (not unlike a lemon lime pop).  A few days later, my amazing surgeon and his team of residents (I called them my flock of seagulls) installed a permanent ventricle shunt.  It drains the fluid into my peritoneal
(belly) cavity.  My kids call it my fluid recycler, kinda like the fart recycler button in your car.  It's magnet controlled. My head is half shaved and I have several sets of stitches.  They come out on the 16th.  I look like a character out of the movie Trainspotting, except with better teeth. 

After a week long stay at University of Iowa Hospitals and clinics, I was discharged to Acute Rehab in my hometown hospital.  This was a great place to recuperate.  I just got sent home today.  Things that are getting better but still have room for improvement:  my endurance, my short-term memory, my strength, my distractability.  I tell you what, brain surgery doesn't get any less exhausting the more often you do it.