Shall we Tap?

It was September 13,2005, the sun was shining bright, the birds were chirping, and I was trying to force a waffle down my throat while my dad was parking the truck outside of my house. It was the day - the day of reckoning - the day for that big long cold silver needle to ease it's way up my back and into my spinal cavity. Yuck - I think I am gonna heave.
My dad got me together, put me in his truck and drove me to Dr.Rampal's office. Approaching the door I could feel the sweat building in my palms. I was scared shitless!
I went in, announced myself, and waited for my anticipated turn. The door squeaked and it was slightly ajar as a raspy voice called my name. No turning back now.
I went to the procedure room and changed into the oh so fashionable paper gown. I jumped up on the frigid steel table and scooched myself into a semi-comfortable position. The doctor came in and was ready to begin.
Now the first thing that put me on edge was the fact that he could not do an x-ray due to another illness so he had to go about his business blindsided. There would be no nifty video on the screen for him to guide his needle up my back - he had to feel it with his fingers and eyes.
He told me to lay down in a fetal position and hold my knees close to my chest. He administered a decent dosage of numbing medication so I would not feel a thing. I was warned I would feel a slight pinch as the spinal tap needle entered my body. Slight was an understatement. Needless to say he gave me more drugs to ease the pain.
OK so it was in, the needle was in and it was slowly penetrating through my spinal cavity up my canal. The point of this procedure was to give a accurate diagnosis, extract fluid for testing, and measure the pressure that was lying around my brain.
We got more than we bargained for. I could feel a wet substance rolling down my back. There was so much extra cerebrospinal fluid, which protects your brain and spinal cord from injury, that it was running out of the small pin hole pricked in my back like a waterfall. The doctor filled four tubes of water that had leaked from my back. After some draining, he hooked up a cylinder-shaped device to the needle. This was to measure my intracranial pressure, which would be a deciding factor in my diagnosis.
Inside of this tube there was a ball. The amount of intracranial pressure inside of my head would blow a small white ball up the tube. The tube was numbered and where the ball stays is the level of pressure inside of your head.
On a normal person the level should range from 8-18, with 18 being somewhat risky. My head nearly blew the ball out of the hole. I came in at a whopping 35. This meant I was almost double the norm. What no wonder I had headaches!
Finally, he was finished and was ready to remove the needle. I thought someone was walking on my back, as the pressure of the needle sliding out caused some uneasiness. The needle was out. I was told not to move. I layed there on the cold slab while he put a bandage over the hole in my lower back.
The four tubes of cerebrospinal fluid were given to my dad and sent directly to the hospital for immediate testing. I was placed in a over sized yellow recliner made from pleather. I was not allowed to move for the next hour. If you move, there is a chance the hole will not close and air will seep in causing an infection.
My dad returned from the hospital and joined me in the recovery area. The doctor then came in to deliver the news. I, in fact, was suffering from pseudo tumor cerebri. This translates into "false brain tumor" due to high pressure caused by the buildup or poor absorption of cerebrospinal fluid in the space surrounding the brain.
Our next step was to discuss treatment, lifestyle change and recovery. The doctor suggested right away that I be sent for a number of brain scans while he waited for the results of the fluid tests.
I was prescribed Diamox to help with the fluid release and Motrin in the 800mg each capacity. He also suggested I start taking Darvocet for the pain while he looked for a suitable headache treatment.
I went home that day flustered. I wondered how this could have happened and how was I going to fix it. Could I just ignore it? And did I mention I hate medication.