Author Topic: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?  (Read 28326 times)

4cm in Pacific Northwest

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Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« on: September 26, 2007, 06:09:27 pm »
Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
 
I am 5 weeks, today, post op here. I am out being a ‘good little patient’ and walking laps on our farm. I first started out like a drunken sailor, after getting home from surgery … but since improved to a middle aged women who appears to have dipped into a mai tai or two (no of course I am not consuming any alcoholic bevies at this stage of recovery) to looking almost (not quite) sober in my walk. I was really thinking I was on the road to recovery. Today it is windy out and I cannot keep my balance… and have regressed to a drunken sailor (ok ok a drunken pirate with one eye patch – “arby dar!)

Do any other AN forum’ers have issues in the wind (it is really more breezy than windy- but the sound just howls SO in my head)

4
4cm Left, 08/22/07 R/S 11+ hr surgery Stanford U, Dr. Robert Jackler, Dr. Griffith Harsh, Canadian fellow Assist. Dr. Sumit Agrawal. SSD, 3/6 on HB facial scale, stick-on-eyeweight worked, 95% eye function@ 6 months. In neuromuscular facial retraining. Balance regained! Recent MRI -tumor receded!

debora

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2007, 07:11:12 pm »

Two steps forward one step back, that is what recovery is all about.  You are improving, your poor brain is working hard at it.  There are all kinds of things that can throw you off,  grocery shopping, wind, noise, lights, etc.  hang in there.   Deb

PS  I walk like a drunken sailor more that I care to

Cheryl R

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2007, 08:10:13 pm »
 Yes wind throws me off and even bright sun.                   Any wide open space of outdoors  does me in and  very frustrating as I live in the country!      I dread it if someone drives by when I am walking down the driveway to get the mail  while I weave this way aand that!
   I am out of town tonight to go to a cont ed class tomorrow and the mall has their next years calender booth already.        I saw one on Pirateology!     Pirates are everywhere I am finding!
                                               Cheryl R
Right mid fossa 11-01-01
  left tumor found 5-03,so have NF2
  trans lab for right facial nerve tumor
  with nerve graft 3-23-06
   CSF leak revision surgery 4-07-06
   left mid fossa 4-17-08
   near deaf on left before surgery
   with hearing much improved .
    Univ of Iowa for all care

Soundy

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2007, 08:13:54 pm »
If I am out and it is windy I plug my hearing ear... funny I never noticed wind noise unless
it was really blowing hard (as in tornado on the way ) when I had both ears...

Something else that throws me are long halls... at school I walk with a finger or back of hand on
wall or I end up staggering to  opposite side of hall ... just contact with the wall keeps me
reasonably in line...

Like Deb said it is a two steps forward one bask sort of game and the best you can do is roll with
it
3mm AN discovered Aug 2004
Translab July 2 ,2007
3.2cm x 2.75cm x 3.3cm @ time of surgery

Captain Deb

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  • Phearless Phyll and Captain Deb!
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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2007, 01:04:32 pm »
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We is all Pirates here--missin' a few body parts we is, and luchin' about to boot!  The lurchin' gets better with time and ye learns ta "go wiv the flow" and heave to when the wind is a bit brisk. Wiv 5 years o' this under me belt, it don't bother me a bit! I just lurch on! Just gotta get your sea legs is all! And remember, we are all in the same boat on this here voyage.

Cheers!
Capt Deb 8)
"You only have two choices, having fun or freaking out"-Jimmy Buffett
50-ish with a 1x.7x.8cm.AN
Mid-fossa HEI, Jan 03 Friedman & Hitselberger
Chronic post-op headaches
Captain & Designated Driver of the PBW

Soundy

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2007, 09:49:18 pm »
we have a thing the Cub Scouts call the plank...

it is a 2x6 about 3 feet long with a block of 2x4 screwed on about 6 inches in from each end...
we have chunks of concrete that were made by filling 3 liter drink bottles and letting them harden...
the object is to balance on the plank with it balanced across concrete chunk and whack your
opponent with a fun-noodle sword...last one that comes off wins...


you know what I learned today?..... I should not try to stand on them things... it were a very interesting
situation... the only thing that would have amused the kids more would have been for me to hurl...  :o
7 -9 year old boys are kinda gross little beings
3mm AN discovered Aug 2004
Translab July 2 ,2007
3.2cm x 2.75cm x 3.3cm @ time of surgery

tkohtz

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2007, 08:19:06 am »
I'm almost a year out of my surgery and my balance is still "getting there". I found one of those little blue balance pillows to be a big help. You can find them at most sporting stores. Swimming has been a great help as well. I am confident I will snowboard again. It takes a while to dail this stuff back in and the progress is slow and can be discouraging at times. Getting used to all the hearing issues are crazy as well, sorry to say I don't have any advice in that department other than patients.

linny

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2007, 06:47:12 pm »
oH MY, I look drunk all the time and right now i look like I was beat up. I have bruises all over me from falling because once I lose the baLANCE iM DOWN FOR THE COUNT. I JUST TAKE IT SLOW.  good luck.  Grrrrrrrr ;D
Linda-2yr post AN 3-cm left side.  OHSU hospital , slow recovery for me. But then I had to have 2 surgeries with complications swelling of brain,

Soundy

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #8 on: October 18, 2007, 06:54:40 pm »
I am gonna be a pirate nest week at our school Harvest Festival... already have a get
up cause we were pirates at Cub Scout Day Camp in June... I took my Girl Scout Troop
to Build A Bear last week while we were out on fall break and built me a bear... named
her Maggie Jinx  and she is dress as a pirate wench...

I built a bear I named Bennie (also my tumors name) about a year ago on the way home
from a long day of MRIs,balance and hearing tests...my last good appointment with little
growth noted... he is nekkid but has patches on  him as if he had been patched up and a
potion of his purchase went to a children's hospital in the area...So now the two of them
represent me ...Patched up and wobbly  :) ... have Erin who is dressed as an Irish
step dancer just because...she keeps the other two in line  :o
3mm AN discovered Aug 2004
Translab July 2 ,2007
3.2cm x 2.75cm x 3.3cm @ time of surgery

Soundy

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2007, 08:43:53 am »
The Mall was a challenge ...I was suppose to take my troop in July but my
surgery got bumped to July ND which knocked that plan out of the water...we
went during the week and since Alabama schools were in session there was not a big
crowd in the mall and especially in Build A Bear... I did count to 7 repeatedly and
kept thinking I lost someone... but my husband also counted and assured me we
were all still there... I did have one girl not come and my brain refused to believe that
she was not there ...

The echo and looking down from upper level to lower level got my head spinning... I plugged
my good ear and staggered around behind the troop with my husband in the lead and
the girls between...by the time we had built bears , ate lunch and wandered thru the
mall for a bit I was more than ready to get home ...

But with pirate teddy in arms staggering a bit I survived...

was dreading it but glad I went on and did it ... got home about 4:30 and slept til 8 just
in time to get up ,take a shower and go to bed
3mm AN discovered Aug 2004
Translab July 2 ,2007
3.2cm x 2.75cm x 3.3cm @ time of surgery

4cm in Pacific Northwest

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #10 on: October 25, 2007, 01:33:30 pm »
This morning I woke up with a MAJOR hang over. No No not from drinking alcohol or partying…

Yesterday was a day at a noisy institution  :-\ while standing in line for a flu shot. (When I would much rather be having an afternoon nap)… Followed by trying to get the kids to do their homework, trying to rush one off to ballet lessons… getting ‘the youngest’ to eat peas on the plate …and ‘the teenager rolling’ her eyes  ::) when told “lights out now!â€? >:(

This morning I had major AN post-surgery “wonky head� as it was mad scramble to get the kids out-the-door ...on time for school.

(Just in case you “newbie’sâ€? do not know what AN “wonky headâ€? -  is go here  ;D )
2006 thread
http://anausa.org/forum/index.php?topic=1612.0
2007 thread
http://anausa.org/forum/index.php?topic=5189.0

This little gem of a video I found in my inbox seemed to be the best cure for my hangover
http://anausa.org/forum/index.php?topic=5189.0
…and I just could not stop laughing.
;D :D :)

I started thinking if “Jeff� who posted Chateau Deaf can learn to lip read, sign language and go back to the school system… “Marg� can be proactive on finding a doctor to order her a trans-ear and go back to brave the noisy classroom… “Soundy� can lead a group of noisy cub scouts and still say “kids are neat beings... even if noisy"…

Check her story on this "classroon noise" thread
http://anausa.org/forum/index.php?topic=5313.0

…If Super duper “Satman� can endure all that physical therapy after the removal of a 8cm tumor (no typo!) and still go to “the mall� (gasp!) … then I got to just get out there and “Keep Moving Forward !�

The sun was shining and the wind was blowing something else on my hill this morning. I collected my dog (who was bursting as he was almost crossing his legs), put on the funky wrap-around sunglasses  8) , pushed in a foam earplug and set sail for a power walk around my just under 13 acres of uneven farmland. The William Tell overture  going on in my wonky head...

Just us… and the wind... and the zillion gopher holes to dodge...

I actually power walked 3 laps … with my faithful Labrador retriever lagging behind in the last lap.
I did it!
I did it in the same amount of time I did it in before my AN surgery – 9 weeks ago!

I even turned my head and did some sightseeing along the way – without getting even a little tipsy.

SO healing does happen!

Laughter and exercise can be the best medicine.

Thanks for being there oh fellow drunken sailors!

Cheers,

4

Hmmm  :-\ … I wonder if there were steroids in that flu vaccine??? …
4cm Left, 08/22/07 R/S 11+ hr surgery Stanford U, Dr. Robert Jackler, Dr. Griffith Harsh, Canadian fellow Assist. Dr. Sumit Agrawal. SSD, 3/6 on HB facial scale, stick-on-eyeweight worked, 95% eye function@ 6 months. In neuromuscular facial retraining. Balance regained! Recent MRI -tumor receded!

4cm in Pacific Northwest

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #11 on: October 25, 2007, 02:08:01 pm »


I just thought about my ANA buddy “Jeff� and a few others who might not be able to catch the audio part of the “video clip� I pasted above

Here is the link to the lyrics that hilarious Mom’s performance as she sings it to the melody of  the William Tell Overture

http://www.squidoo.com/anitarenfroelyrics/

Cheers,

4
4cm Left, 08/22/07 R/S 11+ hr surgery Stanford U, Dr. Robert Jackler, Dr. Griffith Harsh, Canadian fellow Assist. Dr. Sumit Agrawal. SSD, 3/6 on HB facial scale, stick-on-eyeweight worked, 95% eye function@ 6 months. In neuromuscular facial retraining. Balance regained! Recent MRI -tumor receded!

marg

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #12 on: October 27, 2007, 08:15:49 pm »
4,
 I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO proud of you doing the power walk   ;D  ...   ! Things will keep getting better... you just keep setting goals and going after them...... but try not to wear your poor Lab out too much  :D .
Marg
Marg 
 4 mm  AN removed .. middle fossa   5/07 OHSU  Dr. Delashaw
AN scraped off facial nerve & balance nerve removed
 MRI  follow up showed AN gone ... thank you God
Some facial paralysis- . SSD weeks after surgery.  Trans-Ear Nov.2007 ... it really helps !

er

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #13 on: November 21, 2007, 12:20:43 pm »
I am one that has that problem if I am walking but if I wear my patch it helps or sunglasses that are big enough to cover my left eye
eve

lori67

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Re: Drunken Sailors in the Wind?
« Reply #14 on: November 26, 2007, 10:26:07 am »
This is just more of an observation, but it seemed like this was a good category to post this in. 

I have to go to a banquet in a few weeks and had to buy a new dress, etc...  Do you know how hard it is to find dressy shoes without a 6 inch heel on them???  I picked up one pair that had a little bit of a heel, and my husband just started laughing he said my balance was so bad normally that he couldn't imagine what I'd be like trying to walk in heels.  Ah, just another minor inconvenience caused by this darn AN.

Fortunately for me, it's a Navy banquet, so there is a good chance I will be literally surrounded by drunken sailors.  I may fit in quite nicely!
Lori
p.s.  Sorry guys, I think this applies more to the women in the group.  At least I hope so....  ???
Right 3cm AN diagnosed 1/2007.  Translab resection 2/20/07 by Dr. David Kaylie and Dr. Karl Hampf at Baptist Hospital in Nashville.  R side deafness, facial nerve paralysis.  Tarsorraphy and tear duct cauterization 5/2007.  BAHA implant 11/8/07. 7-12 nerve jump 9/26/08.