先日、ひどい頭痛で丸2日間寝込んでしまいました。
寝込むほどの頭痛は、昨年7月の手術直後の数日間を除いて初めて。痛み止め（入院中にもらったロキソニン）を飲んだのも、昨年9月の退院以来初めてのことです。
2月28日（火）の夜寝る前に瞑想をしていて、「なんとなく頭が痛いような・・・」と感じつつ、そのまま寝たんですが、翌29日（水）朝、あまりにも頭が痛くて目が覚めました。
横になっていても、前頭葉から右後頭葉にかけての広い範囲が痛みます。それだけでなく、ベッドから起き出すと、立ちくらみのような感じで脳の血流の変化を感じ、数秒後に右後頭葉に刺すような激痛が走ります。右後頭葉というのは、昨年手術で腫瘍を摘出した患部です。
この28日（火）から29日（水）にかけては、まさに関東地方で大雪が降ったタイミングです。そのため、今回の頭痛の原因も、急激な気圧の変化にあるのかなと思っています。
ネットで気圧と頭痛の関係を調べてみたら、こんな記事がありました。
▼気象・気圧と頭痛との関係：頭の知恵袋 Doctors Blog 医師が発信するブログサイト
気圧の変化がなぜ頭痛を引き起こすかは、正確なところはわかっていません。しかし、飛行機に乗っていて気圧が変動するときに頭痛がしやすい（飛行機頭痛：後で述べます）ことなどから、関連があることは予測できます。最も考えやすい機序は、気圧が下がると脳の血管を押さえていた圧力が下がるため、血管が拡がりやすくなるというものです。片頭痛のところで述べましたが、片頭痛は脳の血管が拡がることでおきます。
前述のように、僕は昨年の手術で右後頭葉の脳腫瘍（神経膠腫／グリオーマ）を摘出しています。腫瘍を摘出した後には直径3〜4センチの「穴」が空いていて、そこは体液で満たされています。
（僕の脳のMRI画像。左半分の16枚が腫瘍摘出前、右半分の16枚が摘出後。写真をクリックして拡大した後、マウスを写真の上に持ってくると、摘出前の腫瘍や摘出後の「穴」の位置が表示されます）
上記の気圧に関する記事を読んで考えたのは、気圧の急激な低下で、体液で満たされた腫瘍摘出後の穴が少し拡がって、周囲の脳組織を圧迫し、それが頭痛の原因となったのではないかということです。
しかも頭痛に伴って、視野が狭まってしまっていることに気付きました。正確に言うと、リハビリの成果により、なんとなく見える、もしくは意識すれば見えるという状態に回復してきていた視野左下の部分が、また見えなくなってしまっていたのです。そして見えないだけでなく、以前のように、残像も残るようになってしまいました。
これも、腫瘍摘出後の穴が気圧の低下により少し大きくなり、視覚を司る周辺の正常な脳組織を圧迫してその働きを阻害しているためではと推測しています。特に腫瘍摘出部位周辺の脳組織は、手術で傷ついて、機能が損なわれた後（左下4分の1の視野欠損）、術後の独自リハビリで少しずつ機能を回復してきています。視野左下4分の1の部分もなんとなく見えるように、また意識すれば見えるようになってきていました。そのように機能を回復してきていた正常組織が、拡がった穴に圧迫されて機能を阻害され、また見えなくなったのではないかと思っています。
ちなみに今朝起きたら、昨日まで残っていた頭痛は完全に治まり、視野もかなり戻ってきていました。低気圧も去り、休息も経て、患部の状態が落ち着いてきたのでしょう。
Evernoteに、女子医大入院中（2011年8月17日）に主治医のTM先生と交わした会話のメモが残っていました。
回診でTM先生に、「今週は視野の回復ペースが早い」と言ったら、「入院中は生活ペースが一定しているからいい。退院すると寝る時間や体調、気圧によって脳の状況や回復ペースが変わる」とのこと。
やはり気圧も僕の脳にはいろいろと影響を与えるようです。ここで書いた僕の推測の妥当性についても、再来週の外来診察の際にTM先生に聞いてみようと思っています。
退院して数カ月、自分はもうすっかり治ったようなつもりで普通に生活していたんですが、まだまだ脳の状態は安定していないし、いろいろ気をつけて生活していかないといけないなと感じた次第です。
★闘病記ブログランキングに参加しています。下の病名ボタンをクリックしてくださると、ランキングが上昇し、より多くのがん患者さんに僕の闘病記が届きます。よろしければクリックしてくださるとうれしく思います。4回のがんをがんを乗り越えた経験が、一人でも多くの患者さんに届きますように…
十分に気をつけて下さいね。私は抗がん剤の投与を終了してから一年は「自分はまともではない。注意しないと」と自分に言い聞かせてきました。回復が目に見えてくると、自分でも油断するのですよね。お気持ちは分かります。
私が入院している時に、せっかく退院したのに早く治りたいとテニスに精を出しすぎてまた再入院をしてこられた患者さんがいました。前向きな気持ちは免疫力を高めるのに必要ですが、無理はいけません！
こうちゃん361さん、いつもコメントありがとうございます！
そうですね、本当に気をつけるようにします。
前向きな気持ちと無理をしない気持ちのバランス、ですよね。
病気を経験してから、こういう「バランス」を考える機会が増えたように思います。昔は仕事でも何でも徹底的にやる、というスタンスだったんですが、今はやり過ぎないことをよく考えます。病気に関係なく年を取ったということもありそうですが（笑）
実は私は病気になるまで「完全主義者」で有名でした。「自分がいないと始まらない」と信じ込んでいました。でも病気になって、それは全くの自惚れだったと気づきました。その意味では病気は私を大きく成長させてくれました。私が「この病気になったことを誇りに思う」と本気で胸を張れるのは、その意味です。これは米国の自転車選手のランス・アームストロングさんの受け売りですが、本気でそう思います。
私も同じような考え方だったのですが、まさに病気を経験して変わりました。本当に、病気になってよかったと今では思っています。大病くらいのインパクトがないと自分は変われなかった、ということだと思っています。
はじめまして、高山さん 体調はいかがですか？テキサスからのコメントです。私の主人（アメリカ人）も3月13日2012年に脳の手術をしました。左の視野が殆ど見えません。新聞を読んだり雑誌を読んだりするのも大変そうです。調子の良い時と悪いときがあるようです。悪い時は精神的にも凄く落ち込みます。高山さんのようにもっと前向きになってほしいです。もちろん私も全力で応援します。
Nozomiさん、テキサスからのコメントをありがとうございます！ご主人も脳の手術をされて視野が狭まっているとのこと、ご心配のことと思います。近いうちに僕が独自で取り組んでいるリハビリについて、このブログでまとめようと思っていますので、多少でも参考になれば・・・と思います。主にPCのExcelを使ったリハビリです。
僕も最初は文字を読んだり書いたりするのも大変だったのですが、今では読み書きはほとんど問題なく、日常生活や仕事上で大変なのは、都内の駅などの人ごみを歩く時くらいです（車や自転車は運転できませんが・・・）。
よく脳卒中後のリハビリで、最初の6ヶ月間が重要で、その期間を過ぎると回復しなくなってしまう、と言われますが、それは違うようです。その証拠に、術後11ヶ月経った僕も、今でも視覚障害は日々回復していますので（笑）。
高山さん ありがとうございます。PCのExcelのリハビリ楽しみにしてます。本人はせっかちな性格+完璧主義なので今の自分の状況が許せずいらいらしているようです。反対に私は超がつくのんびり屋なのでいつも彼になぜ君はそうのんきなの？と言われます（笑）先日MRIをとって、結果良好だったのでホットしてます。Ｄｒからも（もっとポジティブに考えてください。）と言われてしまいました。本当そうですよね！
My name is Mike. I am Nozomi’s husband. If i write to you in English, can you understand me?
You are a very brave man. I hope that I can be as brave as you, and have an attitude as good as yours.
I hope that you can answer my note.
Thank you.
Mike
My name is Mike. I am Nozomi’s husband. If i write to you in English, can you understand me?
You are a very brave man. I hope that I can be as brave as you, and have an attitude as good as yours.
I hope that you can answer my note.
Thank you.
Mike
Nozomiさん、リハビリ記事の件、しばらくお待ち下さいね。せっかち＋完璧主義なご主人の気持ち、僕もよく分かります。でも僕の場合、そこは焦ってもしょうがないと割り切っているので、エネルギーが独自リハビリ開発の方に向いているという（笑）
MRIの結果もよかったとのこと、おめでとうございます！病は気から、というのは本当にあると思います。ともに前向きに進んで行きましょう！
Hi Mike,
I’m surprised to see a blog comment in English (first time for me!), but now I understand that you are Nozomi-san’s husband!
Fortunately, I can read and write in English 😉 I am a president and CEO of a software company called OceanBridge in Tokyo. My company is working with several software/cloud computing companies in the U.S. and Europe, and localizes their solutions and sells them in the Japanese market. That’s why I have no difficulty in communicating in English 🙂
By chance, my friend in the U.S. (the president of my business partner) told me the same thing – “You are brave”. But it is very interesting that only you and he told me that, and none of my Japanese friends told me so (brave), and they told me “You had such a hard time…”, “You did well…”, “I hope you recover soon…”, etc. I think it is one of a cultural differences. Seems very interesting to me! Now I like the word “brave” very much, and I also like the U.S. culture to use this word!
I hope to share my practice of rehabilitation of visual impairment in the near future. I cannot find my time to write a blog entry on this topic… but I will write. I hope you will find it useful!
Regards,
Nori
Hi Nori,
Thank you for answering my note. It is good to talk with a man that can understand my situation.
I am happy that you like my word brave. I think that you are brave.
I have a question. Do you ever see colored (red-white-blue-yellow objects floating in front of you when you are trying to see. I know that the things are not there, but with my eyes I see them.
Do you see better on some days than you do on other days. For me, my vision is better on some days that on other days.
Does your Doctor think that someday your vision will be normal again?
Do you know other people that have the same problems that we have with our vision? I do not know anybody else that has experienced what we experience.
Thank you again very much for answering my note. I hope it is not a problem for me to ask you these questions. I hope that we can become “internet” friends.
Sincerely,
Mike Lundberg (from Corpus Christi, Texas)
Hi Nori,
Thank you for answering my note. It is good to talk with a man that can understand my situation.
I am happy that you like my word brave. I think that you are brave.
I have a question. Do you ever see colored (red-white-blue-yellow objects floating in front of you when you are trying to see. I know that the things are not there, but with my eyes I see them.
Do you see better on some days than you do on other days. For me, my vision is better on some days that on other days.
Does your Doctor think that someday your vision will be normal again?
Do you know other people that have the same problems that we have with our vision? I do not know anybody else that has experienced what we experience.
Thank you again very much for answering my note. I hope it is not a problem for me to ask you these questions. I hope that we can become “internet” friends.
Sincerely,
Mike Lundberg (from Corpus Christi, Texas)
Hi Mike,
I imagine that your case is something similar to an “afterimage”. In my case, in following several weeks after the surgery, when I walked around the hospital and came back to my bed, I saw an old man passing by on my left. He passed me by when I was walking around, but his image was coming back again when I came back to my bed. It was an afterimage. I told this to my doctor, and he said “It is a good sign. Many patients who recovered from visual impairment experienced such afterimages.”
Brain dislikes a blank. If there is no image in my left-side vision, it tries to fill in the blank by using old images. I am not sure, but in your case, your brain is creating (or borrowing) new objects to fill in the blanks. Recently I see no afterimages because of gradual recovery of my vision.
My vision is still recovering everyday and I feel it. So as same as you, on somedays I see better and the other days not.
My doctor did not tell me that my vision will recover 100%, but he told me it will be better, but it takes months or years. I am practicing my vision rehabilitation, and my vision is still recovering. I see more now, comparing to three months ago.
My doctor always tells me that he would like to apply my rehabilitation to other patients who is suffering from the same visual impairment from brain surgery. I do not now anybody in person, but he said there are many such patients.
It is not a problem for me that you ask questions! Of course we can become friends! If you are using Facebook, we can connect there, too!
Best regards,
Nori
Hi Nori,
Thank you for continuing to answer my notes. Yes, I have the same kind of “after images” that you have. But I also see colored objects, like baloons or balls floating in front of me. I know that they are not there, but my mind sees them.
I wish that we could find other people that have the same vision issues that we have. I think that it would be beneficial to be able to share experiences with other people that have had some of the same experiences that we are having.
I would like to be able to correspond via Face Book, but we tried to find you there, but could not. I think that method would be faster than on the “blog.”
You can find me and my wife on Face Book at: Nozomi Lundberg Like you, she has an account there.
I think that is is wonderful that you have given so much of your time to maintaining your blog, and devoted so much effort to trying to understand the loss of vision that resulted from brain surgery. I know that the information that you provide on the blog has helped me, and Nozomi. I am sure that it has helped other people as well, even if they have not provided comments.
I hope to hear from you on face book. And, I hope that you and your family have a very nice weekend.
Stay strong Nori. You are an inspiration to me.
our friend,
Mike Lundberg, from Corpus Christi, Texas
Hi Nori,
Thank you for continuing to answer my notes. Yes, I have the same kind of “after images” that you have. But I also see colored objects, like baloons or balls floating in front of me. I know that they are not there, but my mind sees them.
I wish that we could find other people that have the same vision issues that we have. I think that it would be beneficial to be able to share experiences with other people that have had some of the same experiences that we are having.
I would like to be able to correspond via Face Book, but we tried to find you there, but could not. I think that method would be faster than on the “blog.”
You can find me and my wife on Face Book at: Nozomi Lundberg Like you, she has an account there.
I think that is is wonderful that you have given so much of your time to maintaining your blog, and devoted so much effort to trying to understand the loss of vision that resulted from brain surgery. I know that the information that you provide on the blog has helped me, and Nozomi. I am sure that it has helped other people as well, even if they have not provided comments.
I hope to hear from you on face book. And, I hope that you and your family have a very nice weekend.
Stay strong Nori. You are an inspiration to me.
our friend,
Mike Lundberg, from Corpus Christi, Texas
Hi Nori,
I tried to answer your latest note 2 aays ago. I just discovered that it did not post to your blog.
In the note, I said that I hope that you and your family have a nice weekend. I also wrote that you are an inspiration to me.
I said also that I wish that any person that has had the same experiences that you and I have had with our vision problems, would write on the blog and share the experiences I think that all of us could get encouragement from others that have had this situation, and experienced improvement over time. I know that in my life, some days it feels impossible to continue to fight this problem, but I know that I must.
We tried to find you on face book, but could not. We can be located with my sire’s name:
Nozomi Lundberg
I do hope that you have had a nice weekend, and that I hear from you again soon, either on here, or face book.
Your Friend,
Mike Lundberg from Corpus Christi, Texas
Hi Nori,
I tried to answer your latest note 2 aays ago. I just discovered that it did not post to your blog.
In the note, I said that I hope that you and your family have a nice weekend. I also wrote that you are an inspiration to me.
I said also that I wish that any person that has had the same experiences that you and I have had with our vision problems, would write on the blog and share the experiences I think that all of us could get encouragement from others that have had this situation, and experienced improvement over time. I know that in my life, some days it feels impossible to continue to fight this problem, but I know that I must.
We tried to find you on face book, but could not. We can be located with my sire’s name:
Nozomi Lundberg
I do hope that you have had a nice weekend, and that I hear from you again soon, either on here, or face book.
Your Friend,
Mike Lundberg from Corpus Christi, Texas
Hi Mike,
I’m sorry that I was not so responsive during the weekend. On this blog all the comments posted should be approved by me before they become public. I found Nozomi-san on Facebook and send friend request. Just in case, you can also find me at http://www.facebook.com/takayama
It is great to hear such a nice comment of you for my blog. It encourages me to continue blogging!
Best regards,
Nori