Subject: Back from op, op OK

From: B Stenius & M Martin <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 20:37:59 +0200

Hi,

my TN operation, which I and Mona have written quite a few msgs about,
was performed yesterday, successfully. Now I am at home.
        This is to say thank you from myself and Mona to all those who supported
us. Believe me, I could feel that support coming.
        Is that an odd thing to say? I think not, but I admit there might be
more
apt ways of talking about this. It would mean finding a language for a kind of
physical impact, of material solidity of things which have neither. A
language for
the truly awe-inspiring remote-effects of warm thoughts, good wishes, and
prayers.
And yes, hugs from people I've met only in this electronic medium.
        God knows, I needed them.
        In humbleness, and with respect, I took what I was given.
        -  Only a small part of people with trigeminal neuralgia have MS,
but many
MS'ers have it, probably as one of the strange symptoms of the disease.
        TN means an intense pain in the big facial nerve, thought of as
triplets,
gemini plus one, because it  has three branches. You can have TN on either
side of the face or on both, but if you have it one both sides you don't have a
double-sided TN but two cases of TN.
        I had TN on the right side.
        TN, of course, is exhausting as such. Tegretol, the only drug which
worked
in my case, has tiredness as a by-effect. Also, Tegretol is self-defeating, and
has to be taken in increasing doses to have any effect at all.
        I had passed the stage where the drug could help me. I was in real bad
shape, not only because of TN and anti-TN but also because of an exarcerbation
of my MS. Add anxiety and plain fear, you got the picture.
        The aim of my TN op was to block two branches (chiefly) of the TN by
means of an electric current. As a result of the op I have no pain. The right
side of my face is numb, which is what it should be. It is not pleasant, but if
it where not for this numbness, then the neuralgia would be back. Basically,
the numbness goes to show that the op was successful.
        The numbness will disappear partially. If too much wears off, I'll have
a relapse, but then, it is always possible to have a new op.
        There are rewards and punishments to everything. If the alternatives
are a Bertel screaming with TN and eating Tegretol and a Bertel who has no pain
but a numbness in his face (you don't see the numbness) the choice is simple.
        I feel immense relief. I go back to a life as normal as an MS'er's
life can
be.
        Mona has been very upset. That, of course, is an understatement. Now
she, too, could breathe of sigh of relief. That, of course, is a cliche. She
is more
than capable of putting it better, as no doubt she will.
       In gratitude

        Bertel in Helsinki