My surgery was right around 8 hours and then after spending one night in the ICU, I was moved to a regular hospital room. I was lucky to experience almost no dizziness, vertifo, headaches, etc, and I was walking around my little part of the hopsital the next day.
I do have some lingering facial issues, primarily greatly increased numbness and a feeling of tightness post surgery over pre surgery, but no paralysis. I constantly look at my face becasue it feels like it must look weird - when half your face feels 50% numb you can start to worry about what face you may be unexpectedly making, but for better or for worse it looks just like it did pre-surgery. My taste buds have not improved on the surgery side, but those on the non-surgery side work pretty well. Dr. Brackmann has told me to be patient with my nerves trying to recover and really, what else can I do?
Tuesday was my operation day and I was released on Saturday. My only complication was that when they first took my stitches out (the following Wednesday) I had a small CSF leak. In retrospect, they/we probaly rushed the removal of the stitches because the next day was Thanksgiving and I was very hopeful to be home. But, they stitched me back up and 2 days later I was on my way home. I had my primary care physician remove the stitches about 2 weeks later without any problem.
Please tell Dr. Brackmann that Ken and Mary Ann from Maryland said hello and told you that you would be well taken care of.
If you have any more questions send me a private message as suggested by Jim and I will be happy to help you the same way many others helped me.
Ken
