I'm Baaack..ish

Hi!!!  I have so much to write about, however I am not in a very comfortable position for writing and can't really find one, so if I cut it short I will try again later!

So here is the run-down.  After a decent nights sleep, I woke just before my alarm at 4:00 am to get ready for the hospital.  We left our house at 4:40 and we were at the hospital ready to "check in" at 5:30 on the dot.  I was immediately taken into a prep room where I had to change into the dreaded hospital gown (opening in the back), pee into a cup to make sure I wasn't pregnant (again), and take my blood pressure for the first of 902385892345 times.  After answering many of the same questions I did in my pre-op appointment, the nurse let my parents come back into the room with me.  I was shockingly calm during all of this.  I think I just thought, "Well I am here, may as well get some brain surgery!"  Once my parents came in so did about 53025 doctors and nurses.  Okay, exaggeration.  But, really, at least 8 different doctors and nurses came in, explained their purpose during the surgery and answered any questions.  Then, came the anestesia.  This is one of my favorite stories of the experience.  The doctor's name was Alex.  He came in and told me he would put the anestesia through my IV and would walk me down to the OR.  He told me it would only take a few minutes to knock me out.  Here was the last few minutes of what I remember.

Dr. Alex: "Amy, I am going to put this into your IV now."
Me (slightly teary eyed and giving hugs): "Okay... bye Mom, bye Dad"
Dr. Alex (wheeling the bed out of the prep room towards OR) "So you're a teacher?"
Me: "Yeah"
Dr. Alex: "What grade do you teach?"
Me: "First"
Dr. Alex: "Your kids sure are going to miss you huh?"
Me: "Yeah! Let me tell you a story about that!"
Dr. Alex (waits a minute and opens the OR door)"Okay, whats the story?"
Me: "I don't know what you are talking about."

That's it.  I don't remember another thing until I woke up in the OR.  I never felt the cathatar go in, never felt the breathing tube, didn't feel being flipped onto my belly, etc.  All I have to say to that is THANK GOODNESS for these doctors!

Anyway, I woke up and remember the doctors talking to one another saying "She's waking up, call ICU, take off that monitor, unstrap her leg."  It was one long set of orders and to me, it sounded like they were all yelling and rushing.  Turns out they weren't.  Apparently there was a nurse that called my parents in the waiting room every 45 minutes to update them on the surgery and tell them how I was doing.  Right after the procedure was done, the surgeon called them to tell them exactly how it went.  He told them that he was surprised by how tight it was between my brain and skull.  If I had waited any longer, my symptoms would have rapidly gotten worse.  Again, THANK GOODNESS for these doctors. 

I was put into Neuro ICU and stayed there for the remainder of my stay.  I had the nicest nurses and my doctor, his residents, his PA, and his partner all came in to check on me periodically.  Everything was as expected and I was recovering just as they hoped I would. 

My cathater was removed around dinner time on Thursday night, and I was relieved! However, they wouldn't let me get out of bed until the next day.  I was confused...was I just supposed to hold it?  I found myself dancing in the bed, and finally asked the nurse how in the world I am supposed to go to the bathroom for the next 15 hours?  She, with a smile, said "BED PAN!"  I had no idea what this meant.  Next thing I know, I am sitting on a toilet-like thing in the middle of my bed.  I wanted to say, "uh, can I have the cathater back?"  The bed pan skeeved me out.  The first time I could barely go and the second time I told the nurse I was worried it was over flowing.  Needless to say, I drank very little the rest of the night and held it until the morning.  I know this may be TMI for many of you, but it was a very detrimental part of my hospital experience.

My first night in the ICU I got a great surprise!  I was in a lot of pain and it was about a half hour before I could get my pain medicine again.  I was resting my eyes, when I heard my mom say "Oh! Look who is here!"  I turned my head, expecting to see my brother, and it was my cousin Jake who is a marine.  He has been over seas for many months and I didn't even know he was back in the states.  I started to immediately bawl my eyes out with the happiest tears...but at the same time my heart rate jumped to 175 and three nurses bolted into my room.  They made me take many deep breaths and wouldn't let me talk more until I got my heartrate back to normal.  I was just so excited.  Jake drove 4 hours up from Virginia and had to drive 4 hours back down to catch a flight at 7 the next morning.  He truly would do anything for his family.  I'm so lucky to have him as a cousin, however stinks for all the other potential guys out there, you have a lot to live up to! 

I may have said this in a previous post, but this hospital was like a hotel.  It had glass windows and sliding glass doors.  My hospital room was the size of my bedroom at home with a flat screen 42'' TV.  I had room service with delicious food and someone giving me ice on call.  Minus the constant beeping of the heart monitor, the pulse monitor on my finger, my blood pressure being taken every 10 minutes, and the circulation boots squeezing my legs, I felt like I was at a resort!

I had my giraffe blanket on me the entire time I was in the ICU.  Jake brought me a giraffe stuffed animal.  I got two cards with giraffes on them.  The nurses and doctors noticed and commented on them all many times.  It was just something that made me smile! :)

I was able to come home on Saturday, just two days after the surgery!  I was "okayed" by PT to be released.  After my 5 minutes with PT and then the wheelchair ride down to the car, I was EXHAUSTED.  I came home and slept for 4 hours straight.  When I woke up, I couldn't wait to shower.  Unfortunately, I can not do this by myself quite yet.  I mostly stood there and let my mom wash my hair.  Luckily, my scar is still very numb as is most of my neck so it didn't really feel like anything while it was being washed.  This morning, I decided I wanted to shower again.  My mom was sitting in the bathroom with me as I attempted to wash my hair.  Suddenly I was seeing spots and the room was spinning.  I ended up sitting on the tub floor and again, mom had to wash me.  I felt useless, but luckily I am not weird about naked...again maybe TMI, but this is what my days are like right now.

As far as pain, I have a lot of it.  My neck is very, VERY sore.  The incision feels like its on fire.  Apparently, this is all normal.  I am just very thankful for medicines right now.  I have been very, VERY tired.  I sleep most of the day, which hopefully will help the healing process.  I wasn't able to look at my phone, iPad, or read a book for the last few days because it is very difficult to focus my eyes.  (If there are parts of this post that don't make sense or spelling errors, I am blaming it on my lack of focus! Sorry!)

I have to again thank everyone for my cards, flowers, balloons, magazines, books, candies, giraffes, calls, texts, fbook posts and messages, iTunes gift cards, movies, visits and all the other odds and ends.  I could not be more thankful for the support and positive thoughts I have received from everyone.  I know I said it before, but I am one lucky girl. 

So now, here I am watching my third episode of Friends, using NetFlix to see new movies, catching up on How I Met Your Mother, and answering my hundreds of texts I got over the last four days.  This will probably be fun again tomorrow, however come Wednesday I have a feeling I will be getting antsy.  I need to remember that recovering takes time and I have to be patient.  While I am still in pain it is pretty easy to remember, but from what I have read I will be feeling pretty good in the next two weeks.  That is when I need to remember to take it easy.  That being said, please continue the prayers for a SPEEDY recovery.  I can't wait to feel all the benefits from the surgery and experience a pain free life ahead!  YAY!  :)

I will post pictures later on of the (very minimal) shaved head and looong scar I have!