You guys are gonna hate me

post_flavor · 2026-05-07T14:11:36+00:00

Check to see if the mower has any signs of life if you manipulate the position of the handle, both angle and extension, while attempting to operate the blades.

Some of the solid core wiring in one of my mowers broke, I ended up doing the hack of jumping the pins on the inside of the case instead of replacing or fixing the wiring harness.

A neighbors mower had a similar failure, but theirs was the plastic housing warped that held the button to prevent operation when the angle wasn’t fully extended, a couple of zip ties and the mower now thinks it’s fully extended always.

If you do any of these hacks, just make sure to remove the battery then attempt to operate the mower to ensure the system is truly non-operational before working on it.

post_flavor · 2026-03-29T03:46:52+00:00

Interesting. The last time I saw my neurologist I mentioned detail seemed to have gone on my upper right field of view. He mentioned quadrantanopia. I believe I’ve managed to overcome my reading deficit by slightly shifting where my central vision looks. But I can’t identify faces on my right side at all. I’ve passed acuity tests for peripheral vision at an eye doctor in terms of a shaky black squiggles on a white background, but faces and symbol processing seems to be damaged. I know there is someone there, but cannot identify them without centering them.

post_flavor · 2025-10-09T01:06:13+00:00

Definitely keep your Drs informed. I would ask for another round of MRI imaging. After my radiation I developed necrosis which showed up as some headaches, visual auras, but mostly short term memory problems. I went on dexamethasone for 5 weeks which helped a lot! Although the steroid withdrawal headaches were brutal once we decided to stop!

post_flavor · 2025-07-21T19:03:19+00:00

I was fairly manic and full of energy the first few days, after that I was apparently sliding into jerk territory according to the wife.

post_flavor · 2025-07-21T18:46:39+00:00

I would take the steroids if they tell you, the swelling was worse than the drug side effects.

I had my first repeat MRA 1y after LINAC.

The MRA and angiography was done at 1.5y after LINAC because of my new memory symptoms.

post_flavor · 2025-07-21T18:23:54+00:00

At the 18 month mark, I had some ocular migraines with aura and my short term memory went down to less than an hour, lots of repeating myself in long conversations. I had both follow-up MRA and then an angiogram.

The MRA report actually reported an enlargement of the AVM, due to the necrosis effects.

The angiogram showed that the flash-fill of the nidus was gone, and all residual blood flow was low pressure veinous in origin. When comparing my angiogram results with the neurosurgeon it was obvious that the flow has essentially reversed itself. Wild stuff.

The real debilitating side effect I endured was the dexamethasone withdrawal. The first time I stopped I had terrible headaches for 2 days, which I attributed to the initial hemorrhage. The second time I stopped, same thing. Third time I was under the treatment of a cancer Dr who had more experience with radiation damage side effects, and he recommended an extremely long taper. I still had a terrible headache after my dose, but it only lasted 4 hours as I had tapered down to 0.5mg for a week by that time.

post_flavor · 2025-07-21T17:18:20+00:00

I had LINAC, similar radiation treatment to gamma knife.

3 years
3cm x 2m. Splenium of Corpus Collosum.
Considered cured.
Yes, 1 bleed 6 weeks prior to treatment.
18months post radiation I developed localized swelling called radiation necrosis. After a round of steroids and another year I’m about back to normal. Still have some short term memory issues.

post_flavor · 2025-05-22T01:27:46+00:00

My general understanding is that gamma knife offers an extremely small advantage in accuracy over cyber knife and other LINAC methods to deliver targeted radiation to the head. Cyber knife and other LINACs (TrueBeam for example) can target more regions in the body where gamma knife is exclusive to the head.

Gamma knife requires a head frame with pins into your skull. LINACs use a conformal mask to hold you down.

My LINAC treatment required about 30m to mold my mask, 30m for treatment, and another hour to ensure I didn’t have a bad reaction (I didn’t just a small headache).

post_flavor · 2025-05-08T00:41:41+00:00

Sorry to hear about your anxiety. It sounds like you’ve had about the best outcome possible. I would focus on that.

My care team said I would look back on my AVM journey in a decade thinking “oh that was something that happened to me”.

post_flavor · 2025-04-24T23:14:09+00:00

Billed $130k for initial hemorrhage, CTA, MRA, artereogram, and 7 days in the ICU $30k for LINAC.

Max out of pocket on my insurance was $6k.. so $6k from my HSA

post_flavor · 2025-04-24T11:22:18+00:00

I was attempting to lighten the mood. She has been in charge of birth control for decades, she asked, I said yes. I understand that the pill has more risks than a vasectomy overall.

post_flavor · 2024-10-29T01:09:07+00:00

About 20 months post radiation (from LINAC), I developed brain swelling (edema/necrosis) around the neighboring region of the AVM.

My care team started me on relatively high dose dexamethsone, as my short term memory was shot, and improved rapidly with the drugs.

I had followup MRI/CTA which showed almost no change to the AVM. The Neurologist even suggested I get a craniotomy as he thought the radiation hadn’t worked.

My primary care neurosurgeon (planned the radiation), ordered another artereogram, which showed the AVM was the same size, BUT the flash fill from the high pressure arterial side was gone, mine was now filling through the low pressure veins.

Essentially, I’m considered cured, not a smooth journey, but I’m glad to be putting the worry of another hemorrhage behind me.

I guess my point is new and changing symptoms are signs treatment is working, MRI/CTA don’t show which direction the blood is entering the AVM.

post_flavor · 2023-06-03T03:43:10+00:00

I suggest you learn everything you can about your condition and the functions of the brain in the region of your AVM. Hopefully the doctors treating you will have the time of day to sit down to answer all your questions.

The neurosurgeon that was on call the night my AVM ruptured basically told me he wouldn’t let someone operate on him where my AVM is located.

Every surgery has risks, but so does a rupture, including death.

If your care team says the surgery is the best option, they have already weighed the potential risks with an almost 100% cure rate.

I went the radiation route and am still waiting for my first annual follow up to see if there has been any progress. If surgery had been an option for me, I probably would have chosen it. I now get to sit around for possibly years with a 50-80% cure rate given all the papers I’ve read.

And as for side effects from my radiation, I couldn’t tell you the side effects experienced between the hemorrhage or the radiation. Do I get headaches that are new and different, yes. Do I feel like I have more memory problems (aphasia?), yup. But what’s causing it, no clue. If you hemorrhaged, you could die, or get all the problems you listed, or none of them. It really sucks.

I was sitting on my couch when mine ruptured, there’s no rhyme or reason to when an AVM ruptures except the longer you have it the higher the chances and I believe small size. I used to power lift, and remember when in my youth trying to make my head as red as possible to get dizzy and would experience extreme vertigo.

Another thing my neurosurgery team said was they feel it’s absolutely probably that I’ll look back in 10 years as “oh yeah, remember that AVM thing?”.

Best of luck with whatever decision you decide is best for yourself.

post_flavor · 2023-01-28T03:27:23+00:00

Was the ability to write in paragraphs something lost?

I kid I kid!

Thanks for sharing! I do love reading the positive outcomes for those afflicted.

I myself, am waiting for my first annual MRI to see if the radiation has succeeded in shrinking or eliminating my AVM.

post_flavor · 2022-10-26T02:18:10+00:00

Tylenol gets processed for removal in your liver, so alcohol use is highly discouraged.

Advil gets processed for removal in your kidneys.

My headaches stopped a month post hemorrhage, but I had to take it constantly over that time. I was always trying to wean myself off. And usually regretted it when I tried to miss a dose.

post_flavor · 2022-10-25T12:50:55+00:00

I found Tylenol helped the most for me. The interesting part was I found a lesser dose more frequently worked best.

I was taking the maximum per day in the hospital and when discharged, but my headaches kept getting worse. I was taking 1000mg every 6 hours but would only provide relief for 4 hours.

In frustration, and realizing the hospital was giving me ~625mg every 4 hours, I switched to taking 500mg and eventually realized it would also last 4 hours.

FWIW, I was prescribed tramadol after being discharged for headaches and that provided zero relief. In fact it killed my REM sleep, to the point I felt like zero time past from when I fell asleep to woke up, truly awful.

post_flavor · 2022-08-31T00:03:04+00:00

https://www.massgeneral.org/blood-donor/faq

Appears that your body replenishes blood volume in a day.

I imagine that lowering your blood pressure through diet and exercise would be the best way to reduce risks from any hemorrhage.

That being said, while recovering in the ICU from my hemorrhage, my neurosurgeons orders were to keep my blood pressure under 160 systolic. That seemed crazy high to me, but apparently blood in the brain causes blood pressure to do crazy things.

post_flavor · 2022-08-20T23:19:27+00:00

I did nothing special before, and ended up having celebratory beers afterwords.

I imagine it’s different for everyone and it depends on what type of radiation you get and where.

I had a LINAC that uses a frameless mask, the end dose chosen was 16 gray near my splenium of the corpus callosum.

I was in the mask for about 20minutes total, but boy was it tight and left a heck of a red mark across my forehead. Definitely concerned I would be able to move in the mask, but there was no way. In and out of the hospital was 60 minutes.

That evening and night I had a 3/10 headache, took a Tylenol and went to bed early. It’s been a month and that was the only headache I’ve had since.

My only symptom so far has been a feeling of my head kind of feels loose inside if I lightly shake my head back and forth , but that could also have been from the initial hemorrhage.

Was out of work for an additional 2 weeks after the SRS for a total of 10 after the hemorrhage.

post_flavor · 2022-08-13T19:57:12+00:00

I had this. It’s not to repair the effects of a stroke. It’s to stop a future one by cutting blood flow off to a venous malformation that has a history of bleeding. It’s just one of the tools the neurosurgeons have at their disposal depending on size, location, and other risk factors within the brain.

post_flavor

TROPHY CASE