Southern Hair & Seizures (2014)

Last time, I focused on the complex/partial seizures that drastically changed my life, but now to focus on what really matters...Southern hair!

I was raised in Texas: home perms, hairspray, and highlights. So, when the time came to decide whether or not to have brain surgery (because my medication stopped working, and I totaled my car), I refused to even consider it because I didn’t want to have my head shaved. You should have seen the look on my neurologist’s face. I guess he’d never had a patient refuse life-changing surgery in order to keep her hair.

After hours of tearful discussions with family and friends, I finally agreed to brain surgery because, in order to improve my standard of living, my left hippocampus had to be removed.

Fortunately, my neurosurgeon did understand the importance of Southern hair, and the normally 3 ½ hour surgery took him an extra 45 minutes just so he wouldn’t have to remove much of my hair. Now, that's a sensitive surgeon!

This is a picture of my brain now:

*This is what my brain looks like now

 

(Oops! I forgot to smile in these pics!)

Well, 6 weeks later, it was time for a checkup with my neurologist. He walked into the room and broke into a smile when he saw that I still had lots of hair. In fact, he actually invited another neurologist in just to see it. I really think I may have raised the respect for Southern hair in the neurological community!

Seriously, I’m so thankful to live in a part of the nation that has such an amazing medical community. My neurologist and neurosurgeon are among the best in the country, and I’m fortunate enough to have them in Dallas.

*The original version of this story was posted in 2014 in my Southern Hair & Seizures Blog.