Wondering what to do to recovery as quickly as possible

[ihaveadog]

Hello,

I am having my surgery in two weeks, gamma knife 3 months after, and I am in a nervous wreck. I have a 3.5 x 3.5 x 3.0 cm left jugular schwannoma and am wondering what I can do pre and post surgery to recover as quickly as possible. What kind of diet should I eat? Any food in particular to help with slow growth of tumor or healing after surgery? Will I be able to exercise? Did this affect your ability to work? For how long and how do you coupe with this? Are you able to get back to work?

Sorry for all the questions, but I really appreciate your responses.

Thank You

[Greece Lover]

So sorry to hear this.  My sense from reading a lot of posts on here is that there are no hard and fast rules about recovery.  "Listen to your body" seems to be the most prevalent advice, and it is good advice.  It's not a time to push yourself.  You will make improvement, but its gradual.
You might crave certain foods, and have a disdain for other foods.  I ate a TON of banana bread!
The best thing to do to prepare for surgery, I would suggest, is to be in the best cardiovascular shape that you can. I think that helped me (I did a lot of bike riding before my surgery).  Then, after surgery, it's all about walking to get your balance back, build up stamina, etc. You'll be on a lifting restriction, probably for over a month, so walking is really the only form of exercise available.
There's no timetable to know about going back to work, unfortunately.  I think 6 weeks at minimum.  Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
If you have patience with yourself you can get through it, but my sense is that if you add to the anxiety by worrying about recovery timelines, you might make it worse than it needs to be. 
hope that helps, and good luck!

[golfguy49]

Yours is bigger than mine was, and I think that size can affect everything in terms of outcome and recovery, but I will tell you where I am at.  I had my surgery 33 days ago.  I did not have GK follow-up, because they got 100% of the tumor.  I was in the hospitial for a full week.  I did not respond very well to anesthesia and I had some pain into day 4, but none of it was unbearable.   Meds contained the pain, but be careful about taking too much because the constipation from pain meds is unbelievably bad.  Constipation was perhaps the worst part of the entire experience over the past 33 days, and I only took RX pain meds for 12 days (including time in hospital).  Pain meds slow down or even stop the digestive process - I can't imagine how people can get hooked on them, but I know it happens.  My balance was very poor for 3 weeks, and in the last 7-10 days I have seen big improvements.  I am still not driving, but I may try today around my neighborhood a bit.  I work from home right now about 3-4 hours per day between taking calls and doing computer work.  I would think if someone has a more physical job (such as construction, truck driving, or the like), it could be months before returning work.  I get exhausted quickly due to the balance effort.  I could return to an office environment now, if I had one, with some regular long breaks during the day and some help driving me there.  Large meetings right now would be a challenge because that much stimulation and noise kind of sets me off and I get impatient and my exhaustion level peaks.  I have avoided alcohol and caffeine entirely during post-op, otherwise my diet has been the same as before post-op.  I eat normal foods.  I go to PT twice per week to help with balance exercises.  I have found it useful. 

I hope this helps in some way.  Best of luck to you!

[olive]

Hello and good luck with your surgeory,i hope you will write us after, to tell  how was it,Indeed its depends of you pretty much,you must to stay positive and hope everything will be just fain.I would like to hear from you how they make the surgeory because in my case i dont know how to name it.i see your tumor is almost same big like mine,so,ask th doctor if he can take it out from first time,if not,my advise is to look another one.this happent to me,but offcourse i am in Roumania and i did not have privat insurance.i did not make radiotherapy because the tumor remains too big and now i  try to find a way to go to private hospital to have the second surgeory,In this time,the doctor who make my surgeory is telling me i am just fine.About constipation,i subscribe what ,,golfguy49,, says,verry careful what you eat after ,the ballance was not verry ok but after 5 month i can tell you i feel better.i expected in 6 week i will be like brand new but no,i hope in 2 years will be little bit better than now.So,the point is  indeed is different from case to case,in my case is wasnt easy,but i took everything with a smile on my face,and i am ready to make another surgeory .

[jami]

Hi,

Here are my recommendations regarding recovery, and some around preparation. Before surgery, walk ALL YOU CAN. walk walk walk.

Prescriptions and Meds:
-Right after the surgery you will get a zillion prescriptions, and will need to think about how to get them filled. I suggest you work with the hospital to see if they can be filled at the hospital pharmacy (my husband & father (2 separate people) had to drive to 3 different pharmacies to pick up my prescriptions).
-Have Benadryl (for sleep when the steroid keeps you up), OTC pain reliever and a stool softener handy.[/li][/list]
-For your mind, try an app like CALM to help you meditate and rest. Prepare some good tv, pod casts or books to force physical rest.

Appointments:
-My first appt was 2 weeks post surgery, with each surgeon. It was 3-4 week later with the PT. Think about transportation.
If you can, set up Physical Therapy in advance. It could be good to have pre-surgery guidance, having that relationship already set up makes it easier AND you will know how far away s/he is.

Get the Home Ready:
-Sleeping – it will be ideal to be able to sleep on the same floor as your food and bathing. Maybe do a deep clean in advance. I had someone come and walk the dog each day while I was recovering (even though my parents were there).
-Get a chair for your shower, during recovery it helps, and if you have balance issues it makes things easier to wash your hair without falling.
-I also set all my e-bills to paper delivery and updated my living will, just in case.
-Prepare a number of meals in advance, even a menu, to remove a decision making process. The fewer decisions you have to make, the easier recovery is. I did a lot of smoothies.

Walking
This may be counter intuitive, but stand up, walk slowly and carefully. You will be assessed before you leave the hospital re: mobility. As soon as is safe, walk to the mailbox, or the corner. I sent my neighbors a note that I am NOT drunk at 8 am, just walking.

Constipation:
My family was obsessed "did you poop yet". It was 5 days after surgery before i pooped, but because my family was so freaked out about it i was drinking weird things, taking pills, doing enemas. It was crazy. I would be in the bathroom for 45 minutes, with no luck. When it happened, it happened. Dont obsess about it.

Back to Work
My doctor let me guide the back to work, and i was way too aggressive. Give yourself time. It took more than a year after surgery before every other thought i had was NOT about the surgery. Go for the max. Work will be waiting.

[ihaveadog]

Thank you everyone for your kind responses! My surgery is on 3.18 so I will come back and tell you about my experience once I can after.

[golfguy49]

jami had all good suggestions for you.  I only had 1 prescription coming out of the hospital - pain meds for 10 days, of which I only used for about 5 days.   Some people also get steroids, but my doc didn't prescribe them even though I had a very plugged-up head (he said from blood).  I think he's a bit of a minimalist on prescribing, which has worked out fine for me.  But I wanted to chime back in really for just one more thing, and that is to agree with jami also on the shower chair.  I bought one but chose not to use it once I got home, and that was nearly a huge mistake.  Balance was a big deal coming home, and standing in the shower on a slippery floor while using hands to wash is the most risky thing I have done in a while.  During the first week home especially, I could have easily fallen through the glass or hit my head on the hardware in the shower.  Falling and getting injured in the shower would be an awful outcome after going through this surgery.  5 weeks post-op, I still use one hand to steady myself in the shower, and it is still a task I don't take for granted.

[ihaveadog]

Thank you for your input golfguy49. I will make a purchase asap!

[alabamajane]

All great suggestions for recovery,,
I just want to agree wholeheartedly with golfguy49 about showering dangers,,,

I am 8 YEARS from my surgery and have had balance issues like most of us as a result of it. I have trouble walking in darkened areas,, standing straight  with my eyes closed or turning around quickly,, things we do in the shower,, well  in January I fell while in the shower and broke my wrist! Actually I closed my eyes, and turned around to wash my face and kept turning and fell OUT OF the shower,, ( we had recently removed the glass doors and replaced them with a shower curtain) ,, in thinking back, I now realize I had often “ bounced off” of those doors to stabilize myself and had not really thought about it. Needless to say, the shower curtain did not stabilize me as the doors had ,,,,

So please be careful showering no matter how long it’s has been since surgery,, accidents happen so quickly! ( I have healed completely but it was truly frightening as it happened),,

Best of luck to all of you,,,
Jane

[ihaveadog]

Thank you Jane! Please get better soon on your wrist and recovery!

My surgery is tomorrow in UCSF. I'm so nervous. Due to coronavirus, no visitors are allowed either. I will be in the hospital for one week and then 2 more weeks after in rehab.

I will keep you posted on my recovery after!

[notaclone13]

Wishing you the best possible outcome. Sorry your surgery comes at such an inopportune time. You are in good hands. Please keep us in loop regarding how you are doing.