Six Weeks Later
How I'm feeling.
Yesterday marked six weeks since brain surgery. Ger pointed out that Betty the Brain Tumor was basically our entire summer. I found out about the tumor on May 31 and surgery was scheduled for July 22. So the whole summer was either Countdown to Brain Surgerya or recovering.
But overall, I hope that this is just a temporary blip, rather than an all-consuming part of my life. The type of tumor I had (meningioma) has a very low recurrence rate – about 1%.
So while I'm monitored closely right now by different doctors as I recover, I don't think this will be my life forever. Eventually, it will turn into follow-ups every three months, then maybe every six months or a year.
Right now, I'm dependent on other people since I can't drive, but that also won't be forever. I'm hopeful that my eye issues will improve enough by my next round of appointments in October that I might be able to drive again. My oldest turns 16 at the end of September, so it feels very weird that they might get their license and be able to drive before I can!
Today, for the first time since I got home, I had a headache for most of the day. I've been sleeping on my right side since surgery, carefully avoiding my left side and the incision on my head behind my ear. Last night, I rolled to my left side. Not sure how long I was in that position.
Even though the incision area is healed and the scar looks great, I have to remember that a little piece of my skull was removed (and put back) to do the surgery. And nerves were moved around and stuff to remove the tumor. It's no wonder the area is still very sensitive.
So I've spent the entire day in my darkened bedroom in bed. I tried an ice pack and that helped a bit. But it's been frustrating to feel debilitated for almost the whole day when I've been feeling mostly ok otherwise.
Someone reminded me today that healing from such a major surgery is not linear. My (recovering) brain knows that.
Anna Burgess Yang