Those of you who know me know that I’ve always been “unique” (take that as you will). In this specific case, they know I have a chronic pain condition known as New Daily Persistent Headache (NDPH). Needless to say it’s about as fun as it sounds, but it’s not something I’m going to cover in great detail. What I will cover however, is our last ditch attempt treatment option which involves becoming a cyborg.

What do I mean by saying I’m going to be a cyborg? There was a great news spot done about a young girl who had the same procedure as I’m getting. The way one of the  lovely neurosurgeons here in Ottawa explained it is that it’s still a very new procedure. Oddly enough, I’m actually entirely OK with this. It’s an existing technology that they’ve already been using by implanting a nerve stimulator attached to people’s spines. In my case they’re going to adapt the surgery and attach it to the back of the head, specifically my greater and lesser occipital nerves. If you’ve ever been to physio and had a TENS machine strapped on and zapping your muscles then you’ll know exactly what it’s like, except they’re actually implanting the wires in the back of my head, and the device under my collarbone.

Here’s a photo showing where the nerves are. Nerve blocks are something I’ve had done before, so I guess the big needle is still relevant.

There are some pretty amusing side effects. For one, any kind of magnetic field will cause the device to reset. This means walking into Best Buy or any other store with magnetic security will set it off and I have to reset the device using an external remote they give me. Another is that the first stage of the surgery is with a trial device that will have the leads connected to my nerves outside my skin for the first week. I think it’s best I avoid airports while the trial device is being used.

Words cannot described how awed and amazed I am at where we are going using technology in human bodies. This procedure is tame compared to some of the awesome advances we’ve been making. Just look at the impact that Deep Brain Stimulation has had on this man with Parkinsons.

I’ve always been a big fan of wearable tech and I guess this as just one way of taking that one step further. I’ll be sure to post photos when the trial surgery is done at the end of May.

Sadly, I have been told they will not install a USB port for me, despite my requests.

Edit: Just got told my surgery has been bumped to the 26th meaning I’m flying to Toronto with my trial device at the end of the month. Wish me luck with getting through airport security!