Trigeminal Neuralgia -- and a miracle (surgical miracle :) )

Have you ever heard of trigeminal neuralgia? It's a disease that most people have probably never heard of, but those who have heard of it know its seriousness.

My husband first was diagnosed with this ailment about 10 years ago, at the age of 35 or so.  He experienced excessive explosive pain in the side of his face over and over again, many times a day.  He was eventually diagnosed with this awful thing called trigeminal neuralgia.

So what is it? If you do a google search you'll see lots of diagrams, explanations, and support groups.  We all have a nerve called the trigeminal nerve that branches into 3 segments per side of our face, one down by the lower jaw, one midway, and one up by the eye level.  For people with TN (trigeminal neuralgia), often there is a blood vessel that rubs on the nerve, causing intermittent spasms of intense pain.

Ten years ago, he was put on an epilepsy medicine that controlled the shocking pains, holding them down to a minimum of a few per year. Yes, there were side effects with the medicine (tegretol), but the relief was worth it.  Fast-forward to this past summer when the effectiveness of the medicine for some reason stopped, and he was feeling the shocks several times per week, escalating to several times a day...even on the medicine.

He had an MRI and met with a neurosurgeon who mapped out a surgical plan called microvascular decompression, which is a brain surgery.  We are blessed to live within 5 hours of Boston, where there are surgeons experienced in this type of surgery.  Long story short, he had the surgery (now 6-weeks post-op) and IT WORKED!!!!!!!  He has not had the horrendous pain since the surgery!  Yes, he has a few side-effects (numbness, etc which might dissipate over the next year) but the pain relief is miraculous.  We are thanking the LORD for this healing!  He is still healing from surgery, hopefully to go back to work in a week or so.  It is such a huge blessing!

Another blessing we are experiencing centers on the medicine he's been on for 10 years. He has weaned off it (yikes! didn't expect those withdrawals, such as insomnia and etc!) and the kids and I are noticing that he is so much happier.  He laughs.  He is positive.  And smiling.  I think we forgot (or the kids just were so young they didn't remember) what he had lost being on that medicine.  And now we are blessed with his recovery.

I just want to thank God for this journey, for this healing, for this amazing transformation.  It is a huge blessing from Him and we are so thankful!