Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Brain surgery - 4 week plateau

March 10, barely 3 weeks after surgery. Visiting the Chinese garden.
I remind myself everyday how generally lucky I am that the surgery went as well as it did the cyst they took out show that everything was behind and the surgeon this week said that the cyst was actually congenital they removed it and it should never grow back. All of that is awesome, good and wonderful news.
On the flip side, I still seem to be getting migraines at least the cyclical ones and I'm still fighting some pretty frustrating dizziness and nausea. I do have some fatigue but it seems to be manageable and every day I'm able to do a little bit more. The lingering effects are really the dizziness - outside the house I still walk with a walking stick and often hold on to my husband when we're crossing the streets Etc. And sometimes the dizziness is paired with nausea. Riding in a car is also still not an awesome experience.
I didn't know that this could be a lingering piece and cause me to not be able to go out on my own at this point. It seems like a small complaint but with my strength growing everyday and what feels like all of my cognition intact, this is the piece that I am still trying to put in place.
The incision has pretty much stopped itching and it's definitely still drying and a little scaly and still gross but I'm so grateful to my surgeon who pretty much cut a very small swath of hair so that you really can't see the incision unless you're looking. It's funny because many people come over and exclaim "oh you still have hair!" I even took myself to the salon today to get just my bangs cut. I was very specific with the hairdresser and told her not to touch the back of my head at all and she just cut the bangs.
Today I managed a lengthy phone conversation, a visit from a friend and dinner out. We still spent the evening at home. I'm just happy that I can be more social now even if it does feel like I'm holding court at my house because it's hard to get around. I appreciate my awesome friends who are willing to come visit and keep my spirits up and talk about something other than my health once in awhile.
That's the progress for this week I hope these posts are helping those of you who are facing this currently or will be facing it in the future.

No comments: