Hello to my family, friends, and any strangers who will read this!! For those of you who are new to my journey, welcome! And for those of you who have been following along, welcome to my next level of “Jumanji”, as I’m calling it... if you’re not familiar with the movie franchise, I suggest you check it out!! Anyway, I digress…

I have once again found myself in a medical drama… for those of you not acquainted with my medical history, please reach out and I will fill you in! However, this GoFundMe is for my current crisis and I don’t want to jumble this one and the one my dear friend, Amy, put together for me when I received my cancer diagnosis in 2023, as the two are not related.

Last summer, I started having tremendous back pain and some minor trouble walking. Multiple tests were run and it was found that I have degenerative disk disease along with herniated and bulging disks. While I looked into chiropractors, injections, and even surgery; I decided to start a regimen of 3 days a week at PT with Lexi at MVPT in Amherst, NY. As well as weekly Assisted Stretch with Jocelyn, Massage with Jacqui, and Infrared Sauna at Stretched Out Buffalo LLC (SOB) in Kenmore, NY. I then added in Chair Yoga with Shaq from Bending Buffalo in Buffalo, NY. I was feeling a great deal better and things were looking up!!

Then came mid February and my world came spiraling down…AGAIN. I thought that I was having a bout of vertigo, something that I’ve been struggling with on and off for about 10 years. I went to see my PT, Lexi, for the Epley Maneuver that has brought me relief in the past, but something was different this time. She suggested I speak to my “dizzy doctor”… yup, I’ve got one of those, too… but when I gave his PA my list of symptoms (back pain, dizziness, trouble walking/shuffling gate, headaches, etc.) she referred me to a neurosurgeon.

After waiting for insurance approval for the visit and an MRI of my brain (I finally got both in the past two weeks) my follow up with the results and treatment plan came today. It turns out I have excess fluid on the brain as well as some atrophy of my frontal lobe. Thankfully, there were no lessons, so my cancer hadn’t spread and I can’t tell you how relieved I am for that news!!

Now what do we do as my current situation is not sustainable long term… I can’t walk without someone’s help, except in my house; where everything it set up so I can hold onto something to get from the bedroom, to the bathroom, kitchen, or living room. I can’t shower without Nick’s assistance… we have one of those big clawfoot tubs that are NOT handicap friendly and when I do get in the shower, I have to use a shower chair. I can’t drive to get out to my appointments anymore, so my back pain has returned. Thankfully, I now have a handicap tag for the car, so when Nick takes me somewhere, we can park close, and I don’t have to walk far… not that we go out often anymore. And I have been lucky to keep up with chair yoga with Shaq via Zoom and that helps ease the pain and keeps my spirits up!! However, like I said though, not sustainable.

The hopeful solution? A shunt to drain the fluid. However first, and here’s the fun part… I get to spend, an only partially expenses paid, four fabulous days and three glorious nights at Buffalo General Hospital with a port in my spine to drain off the excess fluid from my brain to see if it helps… basically a four day spinal tap. FUN! WOW!! I will work with PTs, OTs, and speech pathologists over the four days first to get a base line, then to see if my symptoms improve. If they do, I’ll be scheduled for surgery to implant a permanent shunt.

For those of you wondering about my current diagnosis and current quality of life… Hydrocephalus is a condition in which cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) builds up within the brain, which can cause pressure to increase in the skull. Symptoms may vary according to age. Headaches and double vision are common. Adults with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) may have poor balance, poor gate and problems walking (shuffling gate), difficulty controlling urination, and mental impairment.

 I am having issues with all of the above as well as issues with my speech. They hope this four day spinal tap will bring me some relief, but there are no guarentees. If it works and they go with a shunt, I will still need to work with a physical therapist, an occupational therapists, and a speech pathologist to try and get back to any sense of “normal”. 

Even then, with the atrophy that this has caused to my frontal lobe, this may just be my “new normal”. The money from this GoFundMe will help pay for my medical copays and any necessary upgrades that may need to be done to the house for me to function, if this is my new normal.

To say I’m nervous and sick and tired of being sick and tired, is an understatement!! My cancer hit us hard financially, then all that I was doing to deal with my back pain was taking its toll financially, too. We were just getting ahead again and now, this. That’s why, even though I’m so uncomfortable for having to seek help… I don’t see another way out of our situation. Nick and I truly appreciate everyone who donated and/or shared my cancer GoFundMe. We also understand times are scary financially for a lot of people right now and that you might not be able to donate much, if at all… just know that every penny helps and is appreciated beyond measure!! And either way, please, please, please, consider sharing!!

Thank you for taking the time to read this far, I appreciate you all!

Take good care!

Angela