Public Service Announcement

The hole in the middle of my skull is the Burr Hole they made to drain the hematoma.  The string coming from it is part of the drain that they kept in for about 24 hours to make sure they got out all the fluid.

My hematoma was the exact same kind as the one Natasha Richardson had: an epidural hematoma.  Only mine just had fluid and presumably hers had blood.  It develops in between the dura (the protective layer surrounding the brain) and the skull.  They think mine developed just because my brain had so much space to fill and didn't fill the space as quickly as it needed to, and so fluid ended up building up.   And I'm glad that it wasn't a subdural hematoma, which develops between the brain and the dura.  That would have meant that they would have had to go through the dura, which would have presumably just made the surgery that much more traumatic.  I'll take whatever luck I can get at this point in time.

But....had I not gone to the ER last Monday night and gotten a CT Scan, Dr. Shapiro wouldn't have known by the MRI I had on Wednesday (about 36 hours later) that the fluid build-up had almost doubled within that short period of time.  That's why he wanted to operate within 24 to 48 hours.  Time really was of the essence.

So, please, always go to the ER if you are barfing like crazy and have a headache, especially if you've bumped your head recently!  I felt stupid at first, but boy, am I glad I went!