Post-Treatment > Cognitive/Emotional Issues

Things that help us cope.......Everyone help me out here.

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CROOKEDSMILE:
I woke up this morning thankful that I had this forum to come to when I got out of bed. It is now a morning, afternoon and nighttime ritual for me as I check in with my support group family. Being 37 and a somewhat attractive lady (before surgery).... with two small kids and dealing with the ramifications of facial paralysis caused by surgery has changed my life somewhat.....or should I say ALOT. We all have different ways of coping and I think that it is important for us to share with those going down the same path as us so that maybe we can help someone along the way. Here's a list of things that come to mind that has helped me the last 15 months. I would love to hear from others as I can also use all the help that I can get in continuing to cope with post op complications.
1. ANA Forum
2. Prayer
3. My kids and husband
4. Laughing......good medicine for the soul.
5. Facial Therapy
6. Heat packs to face and neck/massage
7. Playing the piano
8. Working in my garden
9. Reading inspirational books
10. Long walks
11. Quiet time with my family
12. Meditation
13. Last but not least.......Martini's (in moderation of course!)

lori67:
I'd agree with all of them!  Except the piano thing - no one would be thankful if I played the piano.

I'd add:  Good friends, caring doctors, a good sense of humor and lots and lots of eye drops!

Lori

Soundy:
In no particular order....

Reading

Friends

Kids

Husband

Hot showers

Hydrocodone

This Forum and two others I frequent

Scouts

School Volunteer Program that keeps me out of trouble and my mind working

Satellite TV between 2 and 4 in the morning ... there is always something on and for what ever
reason, watching TV puts me back to sleep about 8 times out of 10 ...

Ability to laugh some things off...

Did I mention hydrocodone?

MAlegant:
This forum, definitely.

My husband and son

My job and colleagues

My friends

My dogs

Music

Various drugs

Running

Perspective

And last but not least, a sense of humor

Marci

Jill Marie:
At first this post will seem like it belongs somewhere else but I promise it will fit here when I'm done.  While at work today I experienced a "Bad Eye Day", makes me laugh when I think how some people whine about having a "Bad Hair Day".  Boy, would they have a rough time dealing with our issues.  Anyway, it was one of those days where my eye was dry & or irritated or the ointment was globbing onto my eye lashes and running down my cheek.  In otherwords my mind was always on my eye instead of my work.  Then a customer asked if I got poked in the eye or if my eye got scratched as it looked like it was watering.  As I worked on their invoice I told them my eye doesn't water at all so I use ointment.  He asked if my tear duct was plugged and I said it was something like that.  Sometimes when I say more the people asking the questions clam up and seem uncomfortable so I keep my asnwers short.  Today I decided to take a stab at giving the customer more info. and seeing how it turned out as perhaps it is me that's uncomfortable with the subject.  After I paid them I told them that I had surgery for a tumor in 1992 and that lead to my eye not tearing.  They asked if I was ok, if the tumor was benign & how I found out about the tumor.  I told them I'm fine, and that the tumor was benign & that I lost most of my hearing and went to find out why.  They asked if I got my hearing back, I said no, but I got to keep the use of most of my face in trade.  They smiled and said see you tomorrow! 

After lunch my throat started bothering me and my head felt a bit fuzzy so I feared I was getting a cold or the flu, got a flu shot yesterday but perhaps it was to late.  When I got home I decided to take a nap as I still didn't feel to well and I was tired of dealing with the eye.  When I got up my husband was home and he said the World Series was about to begin so he would be spending the evening watching that.  I had wanted to take the dogs for a walk as it was a beautiful Fall day, which was the other reason I took the nap, hoped I would feel up to it then.  Somehow the dogs new I wanted to go for a walk as they kept prancing and dancing all around my husband so he knew they were ready for a walk, he told them NO!  That's when I got the energy to head on out.  I grabbed my walkman & the dogs and a way we went. 

We headed to the neighbors house that always has an excellent Halloween display, it's so good that the dogs growled at some of the creatures in the yard.  One of the tomb stones said, Elvis Presley, live with it!  Then we headed to were there doing new road construction, no cars allowed so we were free to go anywhere we wanted.  The dogs stopped to smell the new fall leaves on the ground as I looked around to see all the beautiful trees decked out in there golden colors.  We walked through a new housing development and I couldn't help but notice how all the houses looked pretty much the same, as we approached our home I was able to appreciate that ours was different as I am, and that's ok.  My husband usually walks with us but tonight I'm glad he didn't as instead of talking I was busy looking at the trees, paying attention to what the dogs wanted to do and where they wanted to go and most importantly doing what I WANTED to do when I wanted to do it.  Enjoying the simple things!

The baseball game was still on when we got home so I decided to check our email, I was surprised to find an email from our youngest son who is in the Army and stationed in Germany.  The subject was, Thanks Mom, that made my day right there.  Then I read the email that said he had gotten one of the packages I sent him last week.  He's headed for Morroco, Africa Monday and I had mailed him 2 boxes of food so that he would have something good to eat while he's there, the food & air and living conditions always make him sick when he's there.   He found out just after I mailed the packages that he would be leaving early and we were afraid they wouldn't get there on time so it was really good to hear he already got one of them. 

This morning I told myself that I was going to post  a "Venting" post when I got home, then my day got a lot better so I decided to make a "Bad Eye Day turns good Day post, then I saw this post and decided I would add to the things that help us cope list. 

1. Husband that still kisses me good morning & goodnight even though my kisser doesn't work like it use to
2. Sons that treat Mom like they always have and need her help so she focuses on them and not her problems
3. Boss that gave me my first job 13 years ago, despite my eye & hearing issues
4. Love to garden, will carve 5 to 10 pumpkins this weekend
5. Long walks to the store with my husband and 2 dogs
6. Long walks to the fast food restaurants so I don't have to fix dinner
7. Yes, this forum, where I can share my thoughts and know the reader understands what I'm saying & feeling
8. Throw a pity party now and then
9. Post on the cookie recipe spot, it's nice to have places to share the good things in life
10. Listen to music from the 70's and listen to my Mom & Dad's albums
11. People that are ok with talking about Tumors and the problems that go with them

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