7 plates and 27 screws

At my MRI last Thursday, I asked Dr. M about the number of screws in my skull, expecting the number to be something like 6.  Well, was I blown away when they told me I have 7 plates and 27 screws in that ol' cranium of mine.  So many!!!  The screws are tiny (like eyeglass screws) and the plates are small-ish too, but still.  I jumped off of the exam table to look at the pictures closer, and couldn't help but smile and laugh.  I feel pretty badass.  :)  My titanium doesn't show up in MRIs, so these are from the CT scan I had the day of surgery (note the 5/23/11 date).  So here's my bling!  (It's not the best picture quality of all time, as they mailed me printed pics and then I shot them with my iPhone... but it's a start.)

There are my 7 round plates, 6 in the middle and 1 to the left (which is actually the right side of my head, these scans always seem flipped because you're looking at my face, not the back of my head, in this)

Side view, obviously, of the lone plate.... and I can tell exactly where this is on my head because occasionally I bump it and it HURTS.  Also, you can see the skull incision more clearly!  Eek!

I think these are so cool!!  Apologies if they gross you out.  I didn't give much warning...

So totally unrelated to my titanium (which does not set off metal detectors, thank you for asking), I had something weird happen yesterday.  Waaaay back when all this craziness started almost 2 years ago (!!!), before I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and surgery would have seemed like the most unlikely thing of all time, I had these weird things happening with my arm.  It was these weird arm symptoms that caused me to see a doctor, who referred me to a neurologist, who referred me to another, who referred me to Dr. S and Dr. H and Dr. P (my kickass neurosurgeon team at UW).  Since surgery, the weird arm symptoms have rarely returned.  I'll get a weird tingly finger for a few minutes, and that's about it.  (Side note: these symptoms are unrelated to my tumor).  

Well, yesterday, I had my most significant arm symptom since before surgery.  My upper left arm went really achey from Monday evening through this (Tuesday) morning.  It ached enough to where it is difficult to sleep.  But it's gone now.  It felt soooo weird though.  Not physically, as I'm familiar with the weird arm things I've gotten.  But it felt so weird to feel them and know what they lead to.  It blows my mind, really.

I'm very happy it's gone now (and I can hopefully sleep much better tonight!).  It was a little like a splash of cold water to the face.  Life.  It's crazy how such small things can lead to such enormous, humungous, life-changing never-be-the-same things.