ANA Discussion Forum
AN Community => AN Community => Topic started by: lori67 on September 30, 2008, 04:14:59 pm
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Hi everyone and let me start by saying THANK YOU so much for all the good wishes and prayers! It feels so nice to know there are so many people pulling for you and I truly appreciate it!
I came home from the hospital on Saturday after my 7-12 jump surgery on Friday. As Jan mentioned in one of her posts, I do feel like I've been beaten up and run over, but I guess that's to be expected. I guess I just wasn't expecting much pain, since the AN surgery and the BAHA were completely pain free, but this is certainly manageable.
The doctor said it went as planned, he was able to make a smaller incision than planned and it doesn't look so bad at the moment. I have some bruising on my neck and in front of my ear (and also the 9000 locations they tried to get an IV in me before the surgery! Ouch!). I just have a row of steri-strips and a little band aid from where the drain was. The best news is that I'm allowed to wash my hair! Ahhhh.... :) I'm a little more swollen than I'd like, but I have such a hard time with the decodron they give you for swelling, that I have to be off that before I come home from the hospital, plus I'm allergic to aspirin so I can't take a lot of anti-imflammatories. The first think I said this morning when looking in the mirror was "I look like John McCain!". Oh well, works for him I guess! :D
Other than that, I've been feeling good, but sooooo unbelievably tired. Chewing and swallowing are a task, but I'm figuring it out. After nearly choking to death on chicken broth, I'm more careful and have figured out where the straw needs to be to avoid that! And I found that if I break Reese's peanut butter cups into very small bites and shove them into the far back of the good side, I can actually taste and enjoy them! After a few days of jello and mashed potatoes, I'm getting creative! I don't think it will take too long to get the hang of things again. Then I can start the waiting game all over again. The doctor said it would probably be 6 months before I see any movement and then as soon as it starts, we start doing lots of PT and biofeedback to get things working.
On the bright side, I thought that once the facial nerve was cut, it would look even worse and droopier until things started working again, but at rest, I really don't look that bad, Which leads me to believe that I really looked like crap before! :o
Thanks again to my AN family! I know if it wasn't for all of you, I'd be ready to throw in the towel by now!
I hope everyone else's surgeries and procedures went well too, and plan on trying to catch up with what I missed one of these days.
Lori - looking forward to some zaps, zings, tingles... whatever....
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Finally!!! I am glad you are back!!! If you plan to run for President, you can count on my vote. ;D
I hope you'll get movement soon! How long was the surgery? Is it a completely different scar form the original one?
Eve
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Great news,
welcome back
Laz
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Lori,
Welcome home! Sounds as though things went really well, and I hope you continue to feel lots better each day. We've missed your humor on the forum and hope that you'll get back in the saddle soon! While you're still looking like McCain, maybe you can make a quick trip to Washington and help resolve the financial crisis ... or at least serve as his stand-in at the Presidential Campaign debate in Nashville.
JerseyGirl2
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Yea, Lori. Great news. But I'm still wondering cuz you didn't say --- can you jump yet ;)?
David
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Lori,
So good to have you back. Speedy recovery with lots of zaps and zingers!
Anne Marie
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Hey Lori,
So good to hear from you...and cheery as ever! Take it easy and we'll be crossing fingers and toes for the sensations to begin. Reese's cups - always good for what ails us!
Cindy
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welcome back...glad things are going well
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Lori I'm sorry I was not here for you before your surgery, but I am here now. So here are your forehead kisses. :-* :-* :-* Lori for President 2011 now lets see who can we choose for your running mate there are so many good choices. Hmmmmmm ???
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Yea!!! Lori!!! You're back!!! ;D Glad you didn't throw in the towel :D
I thought I was the obvious choice for VP, but apparently not ??? Oh well, I'm not sure playing second banana is right for me anyway ;D
Jan
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Jan of course you are in the running! Your right you are a born leader. I think I might want out of this before it gets ugly. ;)
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OMG, things rarely get "ugly" here on the forum. Sometimes we get a little out of hand and Phyl has to rope us in, but . . .
Good to see you back; it's been a long time ;D
Jan
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HUGS Lori! :)
Glad you are back.
This whole AN journey is quite the trip- isn't it?. Good thing we are not alone.
Rooting for you! :)
DHM
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Hi, Lori:
I'm getting in here at the end of the line but welcome back and know that our hopes and prayers are with you as you begin the 'waiting game'.
Jim
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Hi Lori,
So glad to hear that you're home and everything went well with your surgery! Wishing you a speedy and restful recovery!
Nancy
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*runs in to give Lori healing huggles*
Great news Lori and you're home and resting.... me likes good news. You know the mantra.... "onward and upward to wellness" :)
Feel better... get some rest.... will look for updates later!
Phyl
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Glad to have you back onboard Lori and hope things start happening for you soon. You have great pirattitude and guts and are a true wench!
Hugs,
Capt Deb(http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee60/Captdeb_photos/pirate2.gif)
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Thanks everyone! Feeling a little better today. I might even go out and get some ice cream later! ;D
I think the surgery took about 3 hours, but of course, the surgery before mine ran late so I got in late, blah, blah... I told the anesthesiologist if he didn't start shoving twinkies in my IV, things were going to get out of hand! Fortunately, it didn't come to that. Anyway, the scar is right where the front of my ear attaches to my head so once that heals it won't show at all, and then it goes behind my ear lobe a bit and just a little down onto my neck. He said he put the incision "where the crease is" so it won't show. I guess "crease" is the new politically correct term for WRINKLE!! >:(
David, as luck would have it - I STILL can't jump! Maybe that's what I have to wait 6 months for? I suppose I'll have to postpone my career in the WNBA for now.
Lori
p.s. OMG - welcome back! We missed you!
And Jan, I'll be John McCain and you can be Sarah Palin. She's much prettier! And I don't think I'd mind being second banana if I looked like her!
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Hey Lori your back! :D
Congrats Lori and glad to hear you haven't lost your sense of humor! Very happy all went well for you and you are a real trooper! May your pain be less and less as the minutes tic by and may your healing be quick, successful and making you want to jump for joy!
I was choking myself after reading what you were eating in the hospital! EEEEEWWWWW mashed potatoes with peanut chocolate chunks! ;) ;D
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Oh, Karen! Yuk! Have I mentioned I'm a bit of a picky eater to begin with? I'm one of those people that can't even allow 2 foods to touch each other on the plate, so I definitely wasn't mixing my peanut butter with my mashed potatoes! Even only being able to taste on half of my mouth, that sounds gross! :D
I did go to a really good gelato place for dinner tonight - ice cream seems to go down with no problem! I think I'll stick with that for a little while!
Lori
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Hey Lori!
Glad you're back and feisty as ever. Gelato and peanut butter cups--the perfect diet!! We've missed you around here. I'm happy for you that you've gotten this over and done with; now onto the next phase of recovery. How exactly does this nerve-jump thing work?
All best,
Marci
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Well, since there wasn't quite enough "juice" getting through my facial nerve to get the muscles to fire, they sortof hook up part of the hypoglossal nerve like jumper cables to give it a little more boost to get the facial muscles going again. Of course, there's still the waiting for the nerve to regenerate and heal at it's lightning fast pace, so it's going to be a while before I know if it worked or not. I think I can handle 6 months, since I've been waiting 18 months already!
You know how when you're in the hospital awaiting surgery and 50 people have to come and ask you what procedure you're having done? Let me tell you, you can have some fun with the whole 7-12 thing - because no one has heard of it and they don't know what the heck you're talking about. One nurse asked me, I told her - a 7-12 jump. She looked at the markings my doctor made on the side of my face and I told her I was having a face lift, but I could only afford to have one side done right now. She just said "oh, okay." and walked away. I figured it was safe to mess with her since she wasn't the one who was going to be doing the cutting and pasting anyway!
Lori
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:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
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Lori -
Half a face lift :D What a riot :D
I know just what you mean about everyone having to know about your procedure and then when you tell them, they have no idea what it involves ::) My BAHA surgery was the first one my doc performed at the particular hospital where I was, so I had to explain the whole concept to about a million people including lots of nurses. I was impressed by one nurse though who told me she read all about the BAHA surgery on the internet the night before. I told her the hospital should give her a big raise for that effort ;D
I'm happy to hear you're alive and kicking - and even happier to hear you aren't mixing mashed potatoes with chocolate. Although these are two of my very favorite food groups, I think I'd "lose my lunch" if I combined them :P
I'll agree to be John McCain and let you be Sarah Palin if you agree to not make me die before you. Afterall, John's no spring chicken - but then again, neither is Joe Biden ;D
Don't get me talking politics, Phyl will be censoring me before you know it :o
Jan
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SO Lori~
Did they use the black electrical tape?
The people asking the same question so many times makes me think of when Dave & I were getting married - when people would find out he was so much older than I was EVERYBODY asked, "Has he been married before?" I finally got so sick of saying no that I would answer, "NO, but I think he has a few kids running around somewhere, we just don't know where they are..." Pretty quiet after that!! ;D
K
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Lori-
SO glad you're back! I missed your post earlier and have been wondering how you are doing! Haven't lost that dazzling sense of humor, I'm glad to see. I think the ice cream diet may be a medical necessity, btw. It is cold, therefore good for swelling.
Continue to heal, and keep smiling! (okay, half smiling!)
Debbi, flashing a pirate smile back at ya
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Lori,
Great to hear that they didn't mess up the Chocolate tasting nerve. Here's wishing you much piratude to have the patience to wait for things to heal.
Regards,
Rob
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l46/HeadCase2/PIRAATEFLAG.gif)
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I think my chocolate nerve is the only think working properly in my head these days! :D
Kay, I think they did use electrical tape for the splicing, along with a little gorilla glue and an extra coat of duct tape, just to be sure. I keep smelling bubble gum though, so I think they might have reinforced the whole thing will a little bit of Bazooka gum. You can't be too cautious with these things.
Dr. Debbi - if you say ice cream is a medical necessity - who am I to argue!! Gotta keep that sweilling down....It's a price I'm willing to pay.
Rob - are pirates patient? I never thought they were, but I guess if they're dealing with AN's - they have no choice! Here's to making the world a more patient place - one pirate at a time!
Lori
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Lori,
Glad to see your sense of humor wasn't effected! I completely agree that ice cream should help bring the swelling down and if your chocolate nerve is the only thing working, chocolate chocolate chip would be a good choice!! Seriously though, glad to see you are on the mend.
Best wishes,
Wendy
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The people asking the same question so many times makes me think of when Dave & I were getting married - when people would find out he was so much older than I was EVERYBODY asked, "Has he been married before?" I finally got so sick of saying no that I would answer, "NO, but I think he has a few kids running around somewhere, we just don't know where they are..."
So, K, does this mean you'll be changing the name of your website ??? LOL
Lori -
gorilla glue ??? Bazooka bubble gum ???
I see you're back in rare form - just how we like you :D
Jan
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Lori,
Sorry but I just realized I missed your birthday!! Happy belated 24th birthday. I hope you celebrated with an extra large helping for your favorite ice cream!!!
Hugs,
Wendy
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Oh, Wendy, yes a really big serving of ice cream! I managed to get a small slice of cake down, but it turned out to be more effort than I'd like, so I'm sticking with ice cream and milk shakes for now.
Good news - I drove past Dairy Queen yesterday and noticed on the sign that this month's "Shake of the Month" is thin mint! Guess what I'm having for lunch today??? Mmmmmm.....
Lori
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Yeah Lori, you are back!!! We missed you. I hope you are getting the rest you need to heal quickly. I also hope eveyone is waiting on you hand and foot. Here's hoping for lots and lots of zips and zaps and tingles. You are a wonderful healing machine. Take care, glad to see your post.
Michelle ;D
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Hmmm... I'm looking for the people that are supposed to be here waiting on me....and the ones that are supposed to let me rest....nope..don't see 'em.
For my "rest" today, we went to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins, went on a hayride and through a hay maze, then to the park. Earlier in the week, we went furniture shopping, cell phone shopping, Halloween costume shopping, etc... I can't wait to see what kind of rest is in store for me tomorrow. It's exhausting!
I do get some interesting looks while we're out though - not only is half my face droopy, but I've got a line of gross steri-strips down the side of my face and around my ear and I sound like I've had one tee many martoonies! I should start telling people I got drunk and fell off my barstool - that's where the stitches came from! ;D
Now, I'm going to go tell James that you guys said to get me some more ice cream while I put my feet up and rest!!!
Lori
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Lori -
as all moms know, if you truly wanted rest you should have stayed in the hospital ;)
Tell James to take the kids out tomorrow without you - and stay home and get some rest!!!
Oh yeah, and lay off the martoonies, would ya??? ;D
Jan
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Lori~
Only lay off them until Jan & I can be there to enjoy them with you...OK, that is a scary thought - the 3 of us with too many martoonies in us!!!!!!!!!
K ;D
Lori, I hope this is in the "Community" section
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Yes, I figured it would wind up in the Community section eventually anyway, so I just started it there to begin with. Our moderators are over worked. I wanted to give them a break. :-*
Lori
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Lori,
I could use some ice cream as well; cold things make the inside of my mouth feel better. Alas, no ice cream here and Brian is glued to the OSU/Wisconsin game. And I'm far too recovered to ask for shopping favors. Perhaps there are other favors?? ;D
Marci
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I've never had a martooni, but I'm not at all opposed to changing that. Looking forward to the party, K ;D
Perhaps if we offer some to the moderators, Phyl in particular, they'll stop turfing all our posts to AN Community.
Love ya, Phyl :-* ;)
BTW, Lori, very astute of you to just start this post in the Community 8)
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I know I'm late on this, but congrats on coming home after your jump surgery! I'm glad things went as planned, or at least seemed to have. As long as the chocolate part is still working, then everything else is just gravy. :) Welcome back!
Regards,
Brian