The Final Post About Surgery

I did forget to mention one thing in the last post... I got to take a shower on thursday!!!!

Ok, so it isn't really surgery any more but it's the hospital which is bad enough. I was determined the whole time that I would be released on Friday the 13th. I did not want to spend any more time in the hospital than I had to. The day finally came and I was excited because I knew the only one that needed to release me yet was the NeuroSurgeon and I had heard the nurses mention that I was slated to be released on Friday so...

Throughout the morning, I slowly began putting real clothes on. I didn't want to get too far with it until I was officially released but just the thought of putting them on made me feel good. The doctor came in around noon and gave me the official release. However, he wanted me to speak with someone else first so we had to hang around. This is when we first met the radiation oncologist in Chicago. He discussed things like gamma knife and radiation for the tumor that remained. We left at around 3 PM.

We had a nice drive home and made several stops so I could get out and walk (or one of us use the restroom). I felt good really. We arrived at the town near us to get my meds and had a minor headache there because Walgreens didn't have my steroid. (Of course the one that needs to be on a strict schedule they don't have) Luckily, CVS did have. Unfortunately, not only did this put me late getting my steroid but it was almost 9 PM before we arrived home. I just wanted my own bed again. It was a very long day for me and I think I was out within minutes of arriving home. (After we sorted out pillows to try to keep me elevated for the night.)

Well, that brings us to recovery which I will sum up in one post later.

READ WITH CAUTION IF SQUEAMISH

Ok I have given up on trying to figure out how to hide images so that I don't turn off the squeamish. Instead I am going to post a bunch of pictures here with fair warning before getting to the pictures that are a big much for the squeamish. The pictures at the top are safe and most should be able to look at them without much problem. I will do my best to post them and put decent descriptions.

A few tame ones first:


This one is taken the day after surgery. As you can see my head is wrapped for protection and the like. They had just come to change this wrap. Also note the black eye.






Ok, do not read further if you can't handle seeing medical stuff...



This is what it looked like underneath those bandages above. You can see the stitches really nicely in this picture.









This was taken the day after I came home and after I gave up on the braids.












I didn't take as many pics as I wanted to but I think you get a good idea of everything. As you can see in the last one, you can still see some of the benedine or whatever they call it on my head since I wasn't allowed to take a full shower and wash my hair yet.

The Last Reminders are Gone

By Thursday morning I was free to reign around and John and I even took a few walks just for pleasure. They had at this point gotten rid of most the reminders of surgery. All the IVs were removed including the ART and vein one. My blood pressure had remained down since they have moved my IV and I was now taking all my meds orally so there was no need for either IV. This was a relief because I could now enjoy my laptop and move around without it hurting even a little bit. I think I promptly sent out numerous emails to friends and family and read some of my yahoo groups.

I also had a visit from my little brother whom brought a good friend and my son with him. It was good to see my son and let him know that I was really ok. We had a good time and chatted for most of the afternoon. They were planning on staying overnight in a hotel so we knew that would be a riot. Anyway, this pretty much sums up Thursday. It was a long, boring day that was made easier to tolerate by visitors.

Oh I almost forgot... another good friend visited me on Thursday. It was good seeing her. I don't get to visit with her often because she lives up in Chicago. *huggles*

Flying Through the Various Therapies

After sitting in the chair for a while and proving that I was able, physical therapy came back in and I started the process of blowing everyone out of their minds.

Basically I aced physical therapy and then some. He had me do various things like touch my nose, touch his hand then my hand, move this way, move that, stand on one leg, etc. After doing all of this with no issues he was happy that I was ok and I got to go on a walk. I walked the entire circle of the floor. I also walked backwards, on my tip toes, on my heals, in a straight line, etc. He also took me to the stairs which I took with no problem. Actually he had to tell me to slow down because he didn't want me to fall.

We then returned to my room where I was told I passed and that I could have reign of the floor as long as I was with John. They discussed moving me to another room at this point but in the end we decided to just stay in the little room I was. It was a private ICU room and they had other ICU rooms available so the only downfall to it was there was no bathroom in it. This was fine with me because I had an excuse to go for a walk now and then.

I spoke with a speech therapist and occupational therapist during this time as well. I passed everything with them just as easily as I did the physical. I did learn some exercises to do in order to help strengthen and improve the movement of my jaw. (During surgery they cut a muscle that goes to your jaw.) Oh and I got to draw for one of them... if anyone has ever seen my draw they know how painful that had to be for her.

How About Some Real Food?

The next morning I woke up absolutely starving!!! I hadn't eaten in 36 hours (not real food anyway) and I was used to eating breakfast at around 5:30 in the morning. (That's the time I eat every morning for work.) Here it was after 7 and I was really really hungry. Anyway, before the nurses changed shift, they did switch my IV to my hand and remove my old one. YAY The new one did great and honestly didn't bother me that much.

Some time that morning, (I don't remember the time) my buddy (I'll probably tell about some of my nurses later and you'll learn about him.) brought me my breakfast but I was not happy about what he brought me. It was better than nothing but it was another liquid breakfast. I immediately let them know that I was told I could eat real food the next day and I wanted some. They discussed it with those "in charge" and about 30 minutes later or so my buddy made me very happy. Luckily, John hadn't gone after his own breakfast yet. He didn't want to eat when I wasn't allowed too. (Isn't that sweet of him?) Anyway, my breakfast was scrambled eggs, ham, pancakes, and some other good food. John cut my ham for me since the IV got in the way and I... ok my son loves this story so I guess I will tell it here. Instead of eating it with my fork like a civilized human... I was anxious enough to eat that I actually ate my pancake and ham with my fingers. I called it my right as someone who just had brain surgery. LOL Ok had to let you have your laugh.

Ok I did forget something here. My original NeuroSurgeon had told me I could get up and move around the next day. Well, early in the AM the physical therapist had come in and I had found out that I was only going to be allowed to sit up at a 90 degree angle at some point in the day and it'd be a minimum of Thursday before I could sit in a chair. Well this was not in my plans and I was not going to take that laying down. (No pun intended) Anyway, I used my iPhone to email the assistant to my first NS and pretty much begged him have the two of them talk. I wanted up TODAY!!! About 30 minutes later, the nurses came in, removed the cath, and I was sitting in the chair next to my bed.

So why was I so anxious to get out of bed. My whiplash injury was causing my neck to hurt me quite badly. I was using ice on both my eye (to try to relieve the swelling) and my neck because it was killing me. I actually rated my head pain at 1 and my neck at 5 when they asked me where my pain was that morning before they let me up. Within an hour of getting up, both numbers were at 1. I know my neck and I know what it will tolerate and it had reached its limit.

Alright, so I'm up, I've ate, and I'm happy. Now I'm going to blow them away.

Last Post about the 10th

This will be the final post about the day of surgery.

Somewhere around four to six hours after surgery, I was feeling good enough that I started calling people. I called Kat/Kate who was my wonderful blogger while I was out and I think I shocked her a bit... ok I know I shocked her a bit. I think we talked for a half hour or so and it was a nice chat. I also called my boss at work and after playing phone tag for a short while I think it was a relief to him to hear my voice. I enjoyed it.

The rest of the night I was able to get a liquid supper that my lovely husband fed to me since I was having trouble doing it with my nose lower than the table. It tasted good even if it wasn't what I really wanted. I think it was broth, cranberry juice, and I honestly can't remember what else was on there... oh yeah some jello that I left too long so it was melted before I got to it and it was pretty nasty at that point. OOPS. It's ok though. I got enough food to make my tummy happy and the nurses checked on me again and gave me my meds. Then John made his bed, we discussed the fact you could see Wrigley Field from my room, and we went to bed for the night.

I know I was awaken some time in the night for some meds but it was all a bit blurry. Oh yeah, this was when I finally got the point across that my IV was bothering me.

Several Hours After The Surgery

Things had been going really well considering I had just had major brain surgery. I felt really good, seemed to have all my senses about me, and for the most part seemed to be myself and that was confirmed by John and others.

The first day had several objectives with the most important being to make sure that no pressure built up in my head. It seems a bit... interesting to think they were worried about pressure considering the huge amount they had just relieved but the concern is there and that was never going to be a question. In the first day it was typical ICU type stuff. I had an ART line (Arterial IV) in my left arm that didn't bother me near as much as I thought it would. It was there to continuously track my blood pressure, oxygen level, and I think it tracked something else but I don't recall. If they were to take blood I believe they could have taken it here as well so it avoided additional pokes. I guess I won't complain too much about it.

I also had a regular intravenous line in my right forearm that was feeding me fluids, received my steroids when they were required, and gave me pain meds if they were needed... which they weren't so that was cool. I also received injections here for blood pressure whenever that went up a bit. Unfortunately, this particular IV gave me a lot of problems and the injects for the blood pressure were very counter productive. The pain in my arm from this IV was so major that every time they put something into it, I wanted to scream in pain. It was not a pretty experience.

Here are some pictures of this particular one. I'm not sure you can get a true feel for how much it bothered me but maybe you'll get an idea.

It actually doesn't look too bad shortly after having it removed but a few days later the real damage showed up.


The IV probably wouldn't have been as bad if it hadn't taken me so long to get my point across just how much pain it was causing me. In the end, it was finally removed and another IV was put in my hand instead and I never had another problem with the IV other than it just being annoying. *Sigh* Did I ever mention I hate IVs?


Honestly, this picture may even have me looking a bit like a whiner. It's not as bad as what it actually looked. Heck the bruise, two plus weeks later is still this large so it got much larger. I think I have pics somewhere but I will have to find the right ones. Let's face it, post surgery will be a long work in progress for a time to come before I get it where I like it.

Other ICU fun stuff included an oxygen supplement although that one I still haven't quite figured out. It wasn't doing me much good. I was much too hyper and talking way too much for the thing in my nose to do me much good.

And, of course, that first night had the lovely fun urinary catheter since I was unable to get out of bed to go to the bathroom myself. Did I mention I really wanted to get up the first night but they wouldn't allow me to?

I Won the battle... Really

You might not believe me based on the look of this first picture, but this is the picture of the winning fighter in Amy VS the Brain Tumor. Last I knew, the other guy was in a test tube somewhere being dissected and other than a bit of bruising, I'm no worse for the wear. :) This picture isn't major so I'm not going to attempt to hide it but if you are a bit squeamish, I wouldn't blame you for skipping this one. No blood, guts, or anything like that, just a nice ole shiner.

It was taken several hours after surgery but I can't tell you how long. As you can see, it wasn't worth my effort to open it, but I do have my trademark smile. You know I am feeling good if I can smile. (Ok, so it's not my best smile but it's hard to smile when your face is swollen.)

I Was Right All Along

I was quoted many, many times as saying I dreaded the IV more than I did the surgery. As it turns out, I had every reason in the world to. :) I guess sometimes people just know what their tolerance is.

Anyway, I think I left off heading to the C-T Scan. I really wish I could give better details of that scan but I guess a bit foggy wasn't the best way to have your first one. So be it. I'm sure there will be others some day and I will report it in all its glory. It wasn't long (although I'm sure it was much longer than I realize) I was wheeled to C-T to makes sure that there were no developing clots in the surgical area. I remember some lights, a shot of pain killer in my IV, maybe even another shot of nausea med all before they gave me a contrast in my IV for the C-T. I believe this shot is what did whatever happened to my IV. I believe it was a blown vessel but I'm not sure I've ever gotten anything official on this. I just know it hurt like a...

It's just not right that your arm hurts you more than you head just hours after massive brain surgery. Something just didn't feel right there. Who knows, maybe the one thing I feared was in my mind and that's the only reason it happened. I didn't fear like that for anything else and all turned out ok...

The next few hours are a bit blurry and have no idea what order certain things occurred in. I was introduced to my day nurse in the "ICU" and at some point she convinced me to let my parents visit with my hubby. I wasn't keen on anyone visiting there because I was uncomfortable with being hooked up to things. As it turned out, I never left the "ICU" room but everything came off so that was what mattered. I will never forget how good it felt to see my hubby when he walked into the room. His eyes told me solid relief and it felt good to see him that way. I could only imagine what his wait for me was like but from what he tells me, it could have been a lot worse. Luckily, it was rather quick and he was fighting some wireless issues so it kept him busy.

I guess I can finally post the next one with some pictures on just what was seen that first day.

I Can't Be Pregnant Now

I had to laugh, because one of the final hold-ups prior to be wheeled to the OR Theatre was they were waiting on the pregnancy test to return. I had to laugh. At this point, I knew it would be my luck that after over two years of trying to conceive, now would be the time I would make it. Like I told them, at this point if I am pregnant, my only concern is where am I going to live when I get out of here? LOL If I were pregnant at that point on Tuesday morning, then God had every ounce of his hand in it and I knew it so nothing would change anything at that point.

They were finally satisfied with results and I vaguely remember a shot of Benedryl... or at least the talk and then I was wheeled out into an elevator. One of the last things I remember is the Anesthesiologist telling me they were going to give me something to make me a little woozy (sedative I'm sure) and someone shouting the time 7:44 AM. I'm assuming this was the official start time of surgery. I was moved to the OR table and remember something about a conflict between an adult and child's mask...

What turns out to be four hours later, I was waking up to a very strange clock where I could only read the minute hand slipping to the three. How my mind calculated that it equaled quarter after whatever hour it was, I will never know but I knew and that made me smile. My first conscious thought was to lift my left arm up in front of my face and move my fingers. They worked, I was happy. Now for the lower side. Guess what, the left leg worked too. It had to be a success, right?

The next few minutes are pretty blurry but I remember a shot of something for pain and something for a bit of nausea I had. Neither bothered me much. The nurses were asking lots of questions and having me try things but I can't remember much of that. I was afraid at one point of breaking that poor nurses arm though when she asked me to push on it. It seemed like just minutes and the Dr. walked in with information for me. I don't know how much of it I really remember from him telling me and how much was relayed later by John but I remember a story about him telling me it was "about this big" (You can see my hands here right?) and that there was A LOT of swelling. He said my brain just kind of pushed its way out of my head and the only thing I could picture was one of bread rising out of a pan in a too tight space. He said he got to the tumor, cleared what he could (I don't think I remember the numbers 90% at this point but that's what I now know) and by the end it was nice and calm in the skull just like a good little brain. Imagine that... me with a good little brain... I don't believe it. :)

From there, he disappeared, some more cognitive things were run and I was wheeled to an elevator and the post-op C-T scan. I remember being told to raise my head to go in and out of the elevators and for some reason I felt they were rather surprised by my action of it. I guess they didn't really expect me to be able to do it... but I did.

I will discuss the C-T and the headache in my next post.

What You've Been Waiting For

It was Tuesday morning and we left somewhere around 4-4:30 AM to drive our way to the hospital for the day of my morning surgery. It really went rather smoothly and I think we managed to sneak from my friend's house without waking too many people up. Luckily, at that hour of the morning, even Chicago traffic is nearly non-existent. We arrived and checked in, then had to wait for admitting to open so that we could do all the fun paperwork. It really wasn't that bad since most of it I had already completed by phone.

Around 5 ish I was escorted for my pre-op MRI. Not a big deal, just another MRI that I've become very familiar with over the past 9 months. Everything went smoothly and I was escorted back out to my husband after 40 minutes of so and back to the "pre-op" type rooms.

Here, I had to resume the typical of putting of a hospital gown, getting hooked up to IV, and putting on some funky TED socks to help prevent blood clots during surgery. All pretty much went as planned. They hooked me up to some fluids in my IV and some pre-emptive antibiotics and we waited to meet my doctor for the first time.He came in and we talked briefly. Didn't really have much to discuss because I thought most of the questions had been asked by me with my other NS.

I did have some surprises that would crop of later but knowing them at this point in the game wouldn't have changed anything so what's the point? Anyway, I began some itching and light rash just as they pulled the gurney outside of my room. I said "see ya along" to my parents and gave my Love a long hug and kiss, before being escorted to my temporary bed. I also called my son for a brief moment or two just as I promised. Bless him. :)

As they escorted me to the "pre-op" area, they grew gradually concerned with some rash developing and I believe they ended up actually turning the antibiotics off but don't hold me to that. Things were beginning to move a bit faster than I was comprehending and I needed to be on my usual, chipper self not worried about possible complications. In the "pre-op area", I was with a few other groups of patients and spoke with my anesthesiologists. I don't recall their names but they were two very nice young ladies. While we talked, another tech hooked up various electrodes to my chest, legs, etc and I was also introduced to my OR nurse. I apologize to all that I don't recall ANY of their names.Anyway, the anesthesiologists and I spoke about my history with complications and by the end of the conversation I felt very confident just as they did that all would work out great. See, God was shining bright and none of my trouble-makers were in my planned cocktail so they didn't foresee any serious issues. YAY!!!Ok, so that appears like a good size post to start things off and a decent stopping point. I'll do the "pregnancy test", OR theatre, and recovery in the next one. Don't want to overload ye all too much!!!

We're In the very Beginning

I guess I really need to start a bit towards the beginning. Monday, June 9th, John and I had a fabulously uneventful drive to Chicago in preparation for my brain surgery. We arrived early in the afternoon and had plenty of time to relax and chill as we waited to attend our gathering with friends. We had a great time and it really helped me keep my mind off the impending day.

We met with my good friend Louise and her family before going over to another friends house, Alicia, where we met with her lovely family, Bonnie, Genia, Julie, and of course her little angel MJ. I think John was pleasantly pleased that Alicia's children were around because it kept him from being "bored" with the "FlySisters". It was just a good time with lots of fun talking and it just hit the spot. Alicia served a wonderful meal and I think everyone had a good time. I hope to do it again sometime under better circumstances. :)

I'm trying to think if there is anything else major to discuss from Monday, but I'm not really thinking of anything. I will post a few pics of what I did to my hair in preparation for surgery even though I would later find out it wouldn't do me much good. (Long story and you'll see later)

Anyway, here's your pics and stay tuned for tomorrow when we jump right into surgery day in all of it's glory. :)