Well last week at 5 am on Oct 4th my hubby drove me to the hospital for my surgery to remove the Acoustic Neuroma. We arrived by my 5:30 check in time and they immediately sent me up to the day stay area to prep for surgery. They I had to put on the oh so lovely gowns and they put an IV in each wrist. (Let me give you a little tip about iv's if you every have to have one. Well apparently if there is too much going through the line, well it makes your (hummumm)privates burn. I did not know this and the nurse most of notice how uncomfortable I was and finally told me that might happen! - whew I was thinking through that "great now I have to go to the gyn after all this is over!)
6am I am taken up to the holding area where I meet all the doctors one more time plus the nurse and who ever happens to stop by the party : ) Finally I am given sleepy medicine , Tony kisses me on the head and I am off. That is the last thing I remember
The surgery took 8 hours and they were able to remove 95% of the tumor leaving the rest so as not to damage my facial nerve. That part may need to be radiated later - we will see.
I finally start to wake and open my eyes and It felt as if I was in some dream, I did not recognize anyone and because I was in a curtain room , it just did not feel real even though I could recognize some voices. Then I remember the most horrible sound - the sound of a saw! Oh crap I thought I am in surgery and waking up. I remember trying to make noises to let the anesthesiologist know I was waking up and then I would go back to sleep. I most of cycled through that about 3 times before the saw sound stopped. I remember finally opening my eyes and being in a real room - I think that helped, plus I recognized one of the nurses. Then once my family came in I knew it was over!!!
Ironically the surgical spot did not hurt at all - my surgeons did a fantastic job! Amazing. I was in pain from stiffness really - I could not move my neck it hurt so bad nor could I pick my head up. I ached everywhere. Then around 2am they wanted to give me a CAT scan - the moving from my bed to a gurney to the CAT scan table back to the gurney then to my room made me so nauesuos and made me get sick on they way back to my room. Ugg! then they wanted to do an MRI - I litteraly begged them not to. Fortunately my nurse was understanding and said we could wait one day and I could have an open MRI!! I just got not go through another jostling again in the same night!
Wed afternoon was spent sleeping mostly and trying to figure out the right pain meds I could take without being nauseous. We ended up with something for muscle spasms, valium and a pain medicine that I still do not remember the name for it (we have the generic version here at home).! THank goodness Tony was there because he was able to keep all the medicines straight and work with the nurses on right amounts of doses. Like when they gave me 2mg of valium and I was fine , then for some reason they decided to give me 10mg!! That gave me nightmares! They were going to switch me to something else but Tony reminded then that the lower dose actually worked - duh!!
Thursday I started a little physical therapy - getting up and walking. I was still on a liquid diet and boy oh boy is hospital food yucky! the only thing I ate was the chocolate pudding.
They also started removing some of the tubes that were attached to me which felt better too.
Friday more of the same : ) I did get visits from my family everyday and I loved that Adeline would sit next to me and eat my soup that I refused to touch : ). I did have a hard time focusing my eyes on things for a few days and it hurt to look up so I spent alot of time with a washcloth over my eyes till Tony offered to get my glasses!!! Then things were better. My eyes got stronger and so did I!
Saturday they finally took my IV out and I was allowed to start eating solid foods, plus I was walking further with the physical therapist.
Then Sunday was the magic day they said I could get outa there!!! No big fan fare - just the nurse yelling "number13 is out" as we walked by the nurses station - what no high fives!
Once I got home I spent the first couple days sleeping and now a little less than 2 weeks since surgery I am walking aound ,doing a little yoga nad I even hit up the coffee shop with my mom this morning. However - I am not taking any of this for granted and remembering to rest,rest,rest!!!!!
I went for a follow up with my neurologist and we will do a hearing test in a few weeks to see if I will gain any hearing again - as of right now I can not hear a thing out of my left ear.
I also want to mention how amazing my husband was through all this - he stayed at the hospital all day Tuesday and slept in the ICU recliner that night. Came everyday and stayed all day and slept one other time there! I would of felt so alone and scared if had not been there all the time for me - I love you and thanks for being there!
A huge hug and thank you for my parents who took care of the kids all week. We origionally thought it would only be a couple days and then Tony would take care of them at night, but that did not turn out at all how it happened! Adeline spent a whole week without mommy and daddy and stayed at poppy's house the whole time. The only time she saw us was when they came for a cisit in the hospital , which they did everyday! Without them, Tony and I would of been so stressed out juggling everything! Thank you - you guys are amazing!
Another big thank you to my friend Julie who picked up Ryan Tuesday,Wednesday and Friday and kept him all day!!! That was such a big help to my parents!!! Thank you to the Peters for making sure Heidi and Dodger were not forgotten !!!
I feel so blessed to have so many family and friends support me through this - it has helped so much!
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