Thursday, June 20, 2013

Post-Op 2

The after effects of this past surgery are much different than my first. 

- My vision is significantly worse in my left eye.  Part of this is because one of the remaining tumors (I had three left at the beginning of this surgery and I now have 1.5 - they couldn't even attempt one due to how far into a ventricle it is, which we knew pre-op) is described as "velcro" and the surgical team tried about everything to get it off, as radiation on the optic nerve is less than ideal.  The tumor is still on the optic nerve, so radiation will need to be tried, but it will be the 5-8 week low dosage of radiation in August/September versus the 1 week Cyberknife.

- The headache pain is more of a constant hammer rather than a radiating pain.

- The post-op prescriptions are wreaking havoc on my hormones, but it's a trade-off between temporary hormone insanity and brain swelling.

- Cosmetically, my face is a little lopsided.  There's still a little bit of swelling which will go away, but due to my anatomy (my chewing muscle and the size of my frontal sinus), the team had to do a little internal reshaping of the left side of my face. It's not terrible, but it does look like I'm permanently puzzled about something.

- The disequilibrium is totally weird.  I can walk and balance, as long as I'm focused.  However, the swaying particularly as I try to eat, is a little bit funny.

- I have an awesome scar.