This woman bumped her head and had a runny nose thereafter.
But it wasn’t snot.
She thought she just had a runny nose, but a Nebraska woman was actually leaking critical cerebrospinal fluid from her brain through her nose!
Cerebrospinal fluid is a clear, colorless fluid that surrounds and protects the brain and spinal cord. The fluid also helps to remove waste products from the brain and distribute nutrients and other substances throughout the central nervous system.
For over two years, 52-year-old Kendra Jackson of Omaha just thought she had a bad cold.
In order to treat Jackson’s condition, physicians at Nebraska Medicine performed a surgery that plugged the hole in her skull using tissue from her nose and abdomen, Barnes said.
“I used tissue from the inside of her nose to plug the leak,” Barnes said. “I also borrowed some abdominal fat; it makes a great plugging agent in this location, so with just a tiny bit of fat, I was able to plug the leak.”