WOW! What a wonder the internet is. We belong to a group on facebook for Occipital Neuralgia and through that support group we got the name of a surgeon, 1 of only 30 dr's in the country that implants a surgical stimulator to help those that suffer with Occipital Neuralgia. He happens to be in St. paul no less! We had an appt 2 weeks ago and he said Kenna is definatley a candidate for a periphearal nerve block stimulator. He also said if we had $100,000.00 dollars he'd do it the following day....LOL!!!! Well, since that's not an option we had to be referred to the United pain management center in St. Paul for a 4 month trial before insurance will cover 90%. We are just waiting now to be contacted by the pain center to get our first appt. One thing we did find out at this appt. is that Kenna's nerves in the back of her head are permanently damaged, that's why the pain is so severe. This surgery will not "fix" it, it will only trick her brain into thinking the pain is not as bad. Lots of unknowns.....we don't know how much the stimulator will decrease her pain, we don't know how long it will last, we don't know if there will ever be a cure. Just like a spinal injury once those nerves are severed or badly damaged there is no repairing them.
My daughter, McKenna sits at these appts listening quietly. Sometimes her brain injury prevents her from understanding everything and she just shuts down. Sometimes the tears roll down her cheeks as she tries to come to terms with what her life holds for her now. I know I've said this before but her mere strength and perseverance through this amazes me! Throughout the last year we've had so many comments as to what people think she wants to hear. "You'll still be able to be in the FBI" or "When this is over you''ll pick up where you left off" and my favorite "God has a plan". Well, HE may have but I don't believe my God's plan is to make His daughter suffer day after day relentlessly. I believe He's here but I don't believe it was His plan to hurt McKenna so bad.....
As of now, Kenna has started planting seeds for her garden. It gives her something to look forward to every day. Now that they're blooming she's even more excited.
On one last note, the OCR (office of civil rights) is now looking into the mishandeling of the circumstances surrounding Kenna's education. We're looking forward to their findings.
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