Raising Awareness for Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia (ATN) - Black Hills 100 Race Training (Wednesday, June 10)

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The Trigeminal Nerve (1)
The trigeminal nerve is the fifth of 12 pairs of cranial nerves in the head. It is the nerve responsible for providing sensation to the face. One trigeminal nerve runs to the right side of the head, while the other runs to the left. Each of these nerves has three distinct branches. ("Trigeminal" derives from the Latin word "tria," which means three, and "geminus," which means twin.) After the trigeminal nerve leaves the brain and travels inside the skull, it divides into three smaller branches, controlling sensations throughout the face:

• The first branch controls sensation in a person's eye, upper eyelid and forehead.
• The second branch controls sensation in the lower eyelid, cheek, nostril, upper lip and upper gum.
• The third branch controls sensations in the jaw, lower lip, lower gum and some of the muscles used for chewing.

(1) Source:  American Association of Neurological Surgeons

http://www.aans.org/Patient%20Information/Conditions%20and%20Treatments/Trigeminal%20Neuralgia.aspx

Black Hills 100 Race Training (17 days to race day)
http://blackhills100.com

4 years ago today I got a call to "get into the hospital right away" from Dr. Paul Gotlieb - Internal Medicine at Fairview (Edina, MN), as he found I had Bacterial Endocarditis (a bacterial infection in my heart...that had been there for months!)

Thankfully, there was no damage done to the valves in my heart and with the help of the great Doctors and Nurses at Fairview, the support of family and friends, and 6 weeks of daily I.V. antibiotic treatments via a PICC line, I made a full recovery!

Fast forward 4 years...and on a beautiful 8 mile run along Alki Beach in Seattle, I just crossed 450 miles run for the year...and am 17 days away from running my first 50 mile ultra-marathon. ‪#‎blessed‬