I went to Pittsburgh to fix a problem I had with a major nerve in my head. Called Neuralgia, it�s when pressure is placed on one of those nerves by a blood vessel. The symptom, in my case, is a series of extremely sharp pains emanating from the throat to the left ear. These pains are generally triggered by anything that I do with my throat � swallowing, yawning, coughing, sneezing, and even talking.

Here�s a photo.

What you�re looking at is a window into my mind. Well, not really. What you�re looking at is a window into a lotta yucky stuff. That clearing in the center of the image is the inside of my neck, just below the brain stem. The hole is about the size of a quarter. I think they hire someone from Hollywood to light the thing, eh? Beauty!

That little stack of cables in the upper potion of the photo is the major nerve cluster that comes out of the brain stem. They feed information throughout the head to and from the brain. That little maze of seemingly clear plastic tubing at the base of the stack are blood vessels that are also associated with the head. So, in my condition, one of those vessels should be placing pressure on one of those nerves.

Well guess what? They opened me up and, lo and behold, I wasn�t even going to co-operate with THAT theory. I have an artery running through the cable bundle between nerves. You can probably see it. It�s going between the bottom cable and the one just up from it.

The normal procedure for fixing the problem (it�s actually a revolutionary procedure) is to cut minor blood vessels and/or nerves and to place Teflon foam between nerves and the offending vessel. However, in my case, you can�t cut the nerve, you certainly can�t cut an artery, so they modified the procedure on the spot and made a kind of foam hammock for the vessel. No wonder those guys have a God complex.

Anyway, I�ve been coping with this thing for a decade and now it�s gone. I can�t friggin� believe it.

So here�s a photo of my head, after the operation. Yeah�those are staples. No wonder I had a headache.

And this little guy was my companion in hospital. He�s about an inch and a half tall.

So that was it. I�d post more pictures but a travelogue of Pittsburgh would be a bit of a waste of server space. Ya know?

Arc