The past five years of my life have not only been an emotional roller costar but a physical one as well. For several years I have suffered from debilitating migraines. Several doctors including; neurologists, psychologist, and neurosurgeons could not diagnose my condition. Having to worry about taking ten different types of medications a day was not my idea of being a teen ager.

                Just when I thought things could not get any worse in January 2009 the migraines became much more severe. We called my neurologist on a late Friday night and he advised me to go to my local emergency room. The battle had just begun…

After a long night in the emergency room, I was admitted into the hospital. Six nights, seven days and an abundance of tests, including blood work, MRI’s and an agonizing spinal tap. At the end of the seventh day St. Lukes Hospital had given up and said that I would need to go to Syracuse Upstate Medical Center for further testing and treatment.

                After being released from Syracuse with nothing but temporary relief of my migraine and yet another 5 medications a day to take I ended up back within one month of being released. I had just started catching up 3 weeks of missed school when I was admitted to Syracuse yet again.  Finally I was given an answer; I was diagnosed with occipital neuralgia. A condition in which the nerves in the back of my head were damaged and causing my migraines. After three nerve blocks and one cryo my doctor approached me about having a nerve stimulator implanted. My first surgery was on July 15, 2009 where I had a trail nerve stimulator placed outside of my body. The feeling was indescribable when the sales associate from Boston Scientific had turned the unit on, the constant pain was no longer there, and I was finally getting somewhere. My second surgery was on August 15, 2009, the doctors were now finally implanting the unit. After a four hour surgery and three weeks of recovery I thought that I had my life back.

                I was back in school my senior year; doing great.  When I woke up one fall morning with a feeling that was instantly wrong; the stimulation that was supposed to be in my head was now in my shoulder… I had went to school that day where my mom told me it might be nothing and called my sales associate as soon as I could. Being told on the phone that I would have to get an x-ray to see if the wire had fallen; I immediately broke down in tears. I went to Slockium Dickson where I awaited to be called in to the dreaded x-ray. I had the x-ray and saw the results myself; one wire was in the middle of my head and the other in my shoulder. Trying to understand where I had went wrong with my recovery the doctors said that sometimes things like this happen.

                I had to have yet another surgery on September 22, 2009. After another two and a half hour surgery I was on my way to a very painful recovery. I had missed six weeks of school and the fun of being a senior. Not having a migraine was great but the soreness and not seeing my friends had put a toll on me.

Through all of these hard times I have learned that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.