Hi, everybody! I just finished registering for this site and I'm trying to catch
up with everybody. I've finally gotten a computer in Delaware, so I won't be
offline when I go on vacation.

I had a bit of a scare recently when a doctor I was seeing took me off of
the pain patch I was using for the pain in my lower back and put me on
hydrocodone (generic for vicodin). I started having trouble with my bowels
and the next thing I know, I was having the same symptoms that I had with
my shunt malfunction in December. It turned out that I was so impacted due
to the pills that it caused a partial blockage of the distal end of the shunt!

My NS did a shunt tap and it was like she had flipped a switch-the pain was
completely gone!

I'm back to using the pain patch and I'm feeling much better. I still have a
couple of doctor appointments (not shunt related), but otherwise, I'm doing
great!

Talk to you all soon!

Gina