Here’s an interesting story that recently happened to me. I call this story: It’s Not a Tumor Cyst.

I went to my physician for a regular checkup and I pointed out a small bump on my forehead near my hairline. The bump is underneath a mole and just recently I noticed it had gotten slightly larger. The doctor recommended that I go see a plastic surgeon to have it examined. Since I was covered for medical insurance, I went.

The plastic surgeon figured that my mole was covering up a small cyst filled with liquid that had built up. It’s like a zit or pimple but you certainly don’t just pop it. She wanted to remove it and because her next appointment canceled, she could do it right away and it would be super quick. Sounded good to me.

After the surgeon “opened me up”, she noticed that 3 blood vessels were all intersecting in the same spot and had all dilated. There was a lot of blood and the procedure went on longer than she or I had wanted. It didn’t help that I was drinking coffee before the visit and I had to go to the bathroom badly. During the procedure, I felt my classic cluster headache symptoms. I felt pain directly behind my left eye, my nose began to water and I started to sweat in the face. When I mentioned this to her, she applied pressure on the blood vessels and asked if I felt that same pain. Sure enough, I did.

This is potentially great news. This means that we might have found the cause for my headaches!!!

The surgeon is having a small piece tested in the lab, and I have to wear this lovely head gear for a few days. It hurts a little and I can’t bend over, raise my blood pressure, or have blood rush to that spot in my head otherwise it will hurt. Originally this was supposed to be a simple procedure so we weren’t in the operating room. She was only able to suture two of the blood vessels in the very small incision that she had made. She gave me 8 stitches and closed me up.

The plan right now is to let this heal and see if I receive any more headaches. I’m starting another “cluster headache season” right now so hopefully I don’t get any. Otherwise we can schedule a visit to the operating room where she can remove more of the unnecessary blood vessels. Luckily our bodies have more than we need.

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