Hi Darren,
I hope your operation went well, and hope that you have a speedy recovery.
I wanted to reply to your post, because I've had a similar time line of events,i.e. moving away from home for a new job, setting up an ENT appointment that I've been procrastinating to to, and the tumor diagnosis... Things just happened so fast.
October 20 2014- started new job in NYC area
January 30 - ENT visit
February 10 - MRI order
February 11 - AN diagnosis
March 24 2015 - Operation!
I too just underwent the resection and am on my 2nd week post OP after undergoing the resection with the MSKCC team of Drs. Selesnick / Gutin. Suffice to say, I think my recovery has been surprisingly good considering my balance nerve was cut. However, although the Dr's indicated that I will most likely lose my left side hearing completely due to the location/size of the tumor, my functional hearing that I had pre-op is still intact and functional.
I was in the hospital from March 24 thru March 29. They kept me there for further monitoring because of the extreme nausea I was suffering from, and the "incoherent" behavior I was experiencing (I thought I was fine
).
The 1st week was very tough for me, as the nausea kept on coming back, preventing me from doing much sitting or snail pace walking. I would say a few days later, the nausea subsided, but I started to develop other complications from the general anesthesia effects (no BM's, constipation, etc.) which made the recovery process that much more painful. My GI had to be somewhat evacuated, but I understand this is one of those things no one told you about ahead of time!! Let me know if you need help with this as I can share with you what issues I was having and ways around it.
Once I was home, it was more relaxing since I wasn't tied to a hospital bed in an uncomfortable position. I think being around family/friends has made it that much more easy to adjust to your surroundings. The worse part of the hospital stay was having to wake up (just as soon as you fell asleep) to get your vitals tested and take meds. Since my hospital stay was for 5 nights, it seemed long!
Again, during my first 2 weeks, I'm still taking it very slowly with the expectation that during my 1st follow-up visit on April 9th, my sutures will be removed, and I hope that I can start to do other things besides walking around the house. I would tell you to take your time as there is really no reason to over exert yourself during 1st couple of weeks post-OP. I feel that when I start to get confident in my abilities, my left side starts to get a little uncomfortable and irritated, and then I back off a bit. I have young children, and have been able to avoid picking them up! I would sit on floor with them, while being extremely sensitive to any swinging arms/hands that might want to poke my incision area, as it happened already!
After being discharged, they provided me with a walker but they were adamant that I wouldn't use it. I wanted one anyway just to be safe, but at the end, the PT team was right. I didn't need it and don't expect to use it, other than maybe to keep at my bed-side in case I need something to grasp when standing up in the middle of the night. After all, the balance issues becomes more of a nuisance in the dark. Fortunately, our hallways are short/narrow and it naturally provides we with some structural guides to follow with my hands.
I'm starting to turn my head more confidently as I slowly walk from one point to another with minimal issues. The bending down to pick up something seems to need practice, and I avoid doing those movements as much as possible. My head turning is still very slow. Even when I try to pick up speed, something inside my head feels like its weighing it down and causing some viscous friction of some sort.
The showering/bathing has been a lot better from 3 days ago. I have a shower chair that I've been sitting on which has been extremely helpful. I can just sit there with my hands on the shower walls. I feel that if I don't put my hands against the walls, I have some sensation to lose balance. I think the toughest part was having the showers wet your head, since it felt like my head was being poked at hundreds time an hour. That caused some balance/headaches a bit, so I stopped doing that for a few days. Now, I only have my wife help me shampoo my head especially around the incision. After 5 days of practice, I can safely bathe myself now (except for shampooing).
Starting the week of April 6th, 2015, I will start a rehab program with an NYC clinic that specializes in Vestibular balance issues. I'm really looking forward to that. So far, I've been trying to walk side ways while rotating which foot is in front, as well as walking forward with each feet being in front of the other (while rotating). I've been doing it very slow and methodically just to do something with my coordination. I've also been practicing going up and down the stairs at a snails pace.
Prior to surgery, I rode my bike now and then, ran now and then, and most recently joined a Cross-Fit program. I was running on tread mill leading up to the surgery. The main reason for keeping up with some exercise was preparing for the general anesthesia. The Dr's indicated that my balance nerve was already compromised given the 2.6Cm size, and that my right side has been stepping in to help compensate the loss of the left. Maybe that is true, but I'm hopeful I can ride a bike in a few months with my kids again.
Just to be clear, I'm far from being a fit guy. I just tried to eat healthy and picked up some exercising prior to surgery. (only had about a month to prepare my body).
Well, I'm looking forward to hearing from you, and wish you well during the recovery period.
Take care,
Jim
