My surgery was changed to the 26th. I am happy to say that it went very well. I was out of ICU first thing Wednesday morning and home by Friday afternoon. I was incredibly lucky that they did not need to cut my balance nerve and my hearing loss is only temporary due to blood build up and swelling at the incision. My tumor was not in the auditory canal, so I was lucky. My facial nerve, were my tumor was, was also saved and I have about the same minor paralysis that I had before.
As far as my home alone status, I had a friend who had come from Vegas to stay at the hospital on Friday night. Since I was released, she spent the night on my sofa. It was nice to have someone there. I had also let my friends set up a care calendar and while I appriciated the people coming over, I felt like I had to entertain and did not get quite enough rest the first day. By Saturday night, when the last friend left, I was so happy to have some alone time. I went online and cut the schedule down on the calendar so that I only had three people a day with 2 hour breaks between people. Again, I retained my balance, so I can do a lot for myself. I can't lift, so I let my friends take out the trash or get groceries.
What I did not expect was that they had to cut one jaw muscle. I am still on a soft diet and can not open my mouth very wide. It is getting better and I managed a small salad today. That made me very happy.
