It's now a little shy of a month since the surgery and I'm heading back to work in about 45 minutes. I've been keeping an eye out for any signs of strange behaviour and I have to say I think I'm more or less fine.
I no longer get tired from concentrating, at least no more tired than normal and I am able to maintain an activity for a sustained period without issue.
I have noticed the occasional word finding difficulty but I'm not sure that this is the result of the surgery or merely paranoia. I think it's more likely paranoia than anything, I definitely had some difficulty with this previously.
I'm fairly interested to see how I handle 8 hours of actual concentration and work. Only time will tell. I'm fairly confident of my ability to survive it however!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Past and present
I've given up trying to keep the titles of these blogs consistent and ordered. I've lost track of the days.
I had the surgery on the 29th so a little less than 3 weeks ago. I'm almost back to myself again. I'm thinking and behaving normally and my scalp is almost completely healed. Unfortunately major surgery and a couple of weeks of doing nothing has left me very weak. I get tired really quickly so it's going to take a fair amount of work before I can go back to regular life.
I'm trying to keep my days busy, lots of people to catch up with and things to do around the house but I still get so exhausted mentally just doing that. I have trouble concentrating on things for more than 20-30 minutes at a time, even varied things like video games which I used to be able to do for hours. Reading articles is hard work, I tend to get distracted and wander off in the middle of them. I imagine this is just something I have to work at and build up again.
If anyone has any questions please feel free to post them in the comments and I will endeavour to answer them!
Going back to what actually happened in hospital;
Once I was out of the HDU I went back into the regular ward where I had my own room. It was a pretty sweet change, much nicer to be alone and not constantly harassed by the other patients.
One of the things you don't anticipate is that they wake you up every hour in the HDU to check that you haven't had a sudden stroke or some other complication so you get very little rest and feel exhausted the entire time. Suddenly only being checked on every 4-6 hours makes a world of difference in terms of how you feel.
Plus being able to get up and walk around makes things a lot better. After lying down for 4 days straight you get insanely sore hips and knees. It takes a lot of effort to get up and get walking again.
Annnnd I've run out of attention.
I had the surgery on the 29th so a little less than 3 weeks ago. I'm almost back to myself again. I'm thinking and behaving normally and my scalp is almost completely healed. Unfortunately major surgery and a couple of weeks of doing nothing has left me very weak. I get tired really quickly so it's going to take a fair amount of work before I can go back to regular life.
I'm trying to keep my days busy, lots of people to catch up with and things to do around the house but I still get so exhausted mentally just doing that. I have trouble concentrating on things for more than 20-30 minutes at a time, even varied things like video games which I used to be able to do for hours. Reading articles is hard work, I tend to get distracted and wander off in the middle of them. I imagine this is just something I have to work at and build up again.
If anyone has any questions please feel free to post them in the comments and I will endeavour to answer them!
Going back to what actually happened in hospital;
Once I was out of the HDU I went back into the regular ward where I had my own room. It was a pretty sweet change, much nicer to be alone and not constantly harassed by the other patients.
One of the things you don't anticipate is that they wake you up every hour in the HDU to check that you haven't had a sudden stroke or some other complication so you get very little rest and feel exhausted the entire time. Suddenly only being checked on every 4-6 hours makes a world of difference in terms of how you feel.
Plus being able to get up and walk around makes things a lot better. After lying down for 4 days straight you get insanely sore hips and knees. It takes a lot of effort to get up and get walking again.
Annnnd I've run out of attention.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Backtracking 3 - Problem child
I've been posting updates from my phone as for whatever reason I couldn't sustain the concentration necessary to use a PC but the phone was fine (what?). So I'm back on the PC now and finding things much easier.
Anyway, following the last post I was talking about the other inmates in the HDU.
The last was a late middle aged woman who seemed initially more or less sane. However, the truth was quickly revealed as she turned out to be just as, if not more looney than the others. She would press the nurse call button repeatedly just to get a small power kick out of the nurses coming running. She'd always claim it was an accident... but it was obvious given how regularly she did it that it wasn't. Plus she'd regularly get into arguments with the nurses and accuse them of stealing from her or something equally stupid. I'm not really clear on what she was actually doing, I was pretty woozy at this point.
In the HDU they wake you up every hour of every day to make sure you haven't lapsed into a coma or something equally terrible. Each wake up they ask you if you know where you are and what the date is. The desire to troll the nurses is pretty strong but it's definitely not in your best interest given that at this point you're so weak you need assistance going to the bathroom and eating.
Thankfully I got past all that fairly quickly. I made it out of the HDU in about 3 days and was turning down painkillers and anti-nausea meds by about day 5 if I recall rightly. Not because I'm tough mind you but because all that stuff made me feel so much worse. Tramadol and Morphine make me want to throw up more than they kill the pain so they weren't the right painkillers for me. Thankfully paracetemol worked pretty well on me so I wasn't without pain relief.
After the HDU I was moved to my own room in the regular ward which was a totally different world to the challenges of the HDU.
Anyway, following the last post I was talking about the other inmates in the HDU.
The last was a late middle aged woman who seemed initially more or less sane. However, the truth was quickly revealed as she turned out to be just as, if not more looney than the others. She would press the nurse call button repeatedly just to get a small power kick out of the nurses coming running. She'd always claim it was an accident... but it was obvious given how regularly she did it that it wasn't. Plus she'd regularly get into arguments with the nurses and accuse them of stealing from her or something equally stupid. I'm not really clear on what she was actually doing, I was pretty woozy at this point.
In the HDU they wake you up every hour of every day to make sure you haven't lapsed into a coma or something equally terrible. Each wake up they ask you if you know where you are and what the date is. The desire to troll the nurses is pretty strong but it's definitely not in your best interest given that at this point you're so weak you need assistance going to the bathroom and eating.
Thankfully I got past all that fairly quickly. I made it out of the HDU in about 3 days and was turning down painkillers and anti-nausea meds by about day 5 if I recall rightly. Not because I'm tough mind you but because all that stuff made me feel so much worse. Tramadol and Morphine make me want to throw up more than they kill the pain so they weren't the right painkillers for me. Thankfully paracetemol worked pretty well on me so I wasn't without pain relief.
After the HDU I was moved to my own room in the regular ward which was a totally different world to the challenges of the HDU.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Backtracking 2 - HDU
Out of surgery I ended up in HDU, the high dependency unit. This is where they put you to make sure you survived surgery ok and don't have brain damage. So I ended up there with about 3 other people all in varying states of recovery.
Immediately after coming to I had a throbbing head ache, as you might expect. Plus lots of nausea resulting in me throwing up on myself a few times... Not my finest hour.
My family came to visit straight away and I was coherent enough to recognise and mess with them. Pranks after brain surgery are pretty low and I didn't have enough strength to really commit to it.
The other people in the HDU were much worse than me, thank god I had the surgery when I was young and tough. One guy thought it was 1989 and that he was in Christchurch. He kept trying to pull the drain out of his head, much to the annoyance of the nurses.
Another dude knew where and when he was but had obviously had a stroke or something and couldn't tell if his left hand was his or someone elses. Plus he couldn't work out how to use the nurse call button and would just shout until someone came and told him it was his own hand he was hitting.
Hospital is the worst place to recover.
Immediately after coming to I had a throbbing head ache, as you might expect. Plus lots of nausea resulting in me throwing up on myself a few times... Not my finest hour.
My family came to visit straight away and I was coherent enough to recognise and mess with them. Pranks after brain surgery are pretty low and I didn't have enough strength to really commit to it.
The other people in the HDU were much worse than me, thank god I had the surgery when I was young and tough. One guy thought it was 1989 and that he was in Christchurch. He kept trying to pull the drain out of his head, much to the annoyance of the nurses.
Another dude knew where and when he was but had obviously had a stroke or something and couldn't tell if his left hand was his or someone elses. Plus he couldn't work out how to use the nurse call button and would just shout until someone came and told him it was his own hand he was hitting.
Hospital is the worst place to recover.
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Friday, November 5, 2010
Backtracking
Its been a bit over a week since my surgery and I'm almost feeling normal again.
Surgery day itself was fairly intense. The nurses woke me up about 5am to have a shower and get prepared. Then back to bed til around 8am at which point my bed was wheeled down to the pre-op room. From there I was reintroduced to the anaesthetists and taken into the theatre where I was transferred to the operating table. The anaesthetist gave me a shot of some kind of benzodiazapam which made everything significantly less nervewracking.
I don't remember being given the injection of anaesthetic but when I came to 4 or 5 hours later I was in the recovery room. For a wee while I was very confused and kept trying to sit up despite the various leads and lures attached to my head and arms.
Then they moved me to the high dependency unit for monitoring for a few days.
Thats a story for another day...
Surgery day itself was fairly intense. The nurses woke me up about 5am to have a shower and get prepared. Then back to bed til around 8am at which point my bed was wheeled down to the pre-op room. From there I was reintroduced to the anaesthetists and taken into the theatre where I was transferred to the operating table. The anaesthetist gave me a shot of some kind of benzodiazapam which made everything significantly less nervewracking.
I don't remember being given the injection of anaesthetic but when I came to 4 or 5 hours later I was in the recovery room. For a wee while I was very confused and kept trying to sit up despite the various leads and lures attached to my head and arms.
Then they moved me to the high dependency unit for monitoring for a few days.
Thats a story for another day...
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Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Home again - day 12
I survived my surgery with out any major dramas and I'm currently staying with my parents while I recover. I'll try and post what actually went down over the coming days as my attention span comes back.
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Thursday, October 28, 2010
Here we go - day 6
The day is finally here. It's 545am and I've been given a gown and towel and told to have a shower.
Then its off for my lobotomy... I mean surgery.
Still very nervous as now I have some idea what to expect I have an idea of what I might feel like tomorrow.
I got woken up about midnight to go for a CT scan which was quick and painless. So far the staff here have been pretty awesome, fast and responsive.
Anyway, showers free now. No phones in the high dependency unit where I'm heading after surgery but I'll endeavour to get back online asap.
Then its off for my lobotomy... I mean surgery.
Still very nervous as now I have some idea what to expect I have an idea of what I might feel like tomorrow.
I got woken up about midnight to go for a CT scan which was quick and painless. So far the staff here have been pretty awesome, fast and responsive.
Anyway, showers free now. No phones in the high dependency unit where I'm heading after surgery but I'll endeavour to get back online asap.
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Answers at last - day 5
I got to see the surgeons registrar today who was able to answer all my questions.
Looks like surgery is going to take around 4 hours. They'll remove a chunk of skull, cut through the arachnoid membrane, shift the major vein aside, cut through a section of the corpus callosum and then remove my cyst. Then they'll patch me up, put two titanium plates in my skull and wake me up.
All going according to plan I can expect to wake up with a headache, and feel pretty dazed. He suggests I should be off work for around a month but only time will tell. I'm hoping I recover faster than this, too many things to do!
The good news is that should everything go to plan I can go to kiwicon. Flying shouldn't be an issue.
Worst case scenario I have a stroke or something similar but this is supposedly very unlikely. I may also experience some short term memory problems. However, these may only be noticeable in testing rather than to me directly. Still, I'm hoping everything goes well, not keen on experiencing brain damage firsthand.
Still, tomorrow morning, around 8, I'll be headed for surgery. Wish me luck. I'll try to keep posting if I'm able to concentrate long enough.
Looks like surgery is going to take around 4 hours. They'll remove a chunk of skull, cut through the arachnoid membrane, shift the major vein aside, cut through a section of the corpus callosum and then remove my cyst. Then they'll patch me up, put two titanium plates in my skull and wake me up.
All going according to plan I can expect to wake up with a headache, and feel pretty dazed. He suggests I should be off work for around a month but only time will tell. I'm hoping I recover faster than this, too many things to do!
The good news is that should everything go to plan I can go to kiwicon. Flying shouldn't be an issue.
Worst case scenario I have a stroke or something similar but this is supposedly very unlikely. I may also experience some short term memory problems. However, these may only be noticeable in testing rather than to me directly. Still, I'm hoping everything goes well, not keen on experiencing brain damage firsthand.
Still, tomorrow morning, around 8, I'll be headed for surgery. Wish me luck. I'll try to keep posting if I'm able to concentrate long enough.
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Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Postponed - Day 5
I made it to the hospital, on time, cheerful and ready on Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, shortly after checking in, getting a wristband and my paperwork, I received a phone call. To advise me that my surgery had been postponed. I later found out this was due to an accute case coming in, presumably an emergency of some sort.
As my surgery is non-urgent I can be bumped from the my position relatively easily.
Upon returning home I was told by the schedulers to wait for a phone call the next day as to when I might go again. Bright and early the next morning, Wednesday, I received said phone call. "Wait and see" was the message I was given, go back to work and see what happens.
So I made it to work this morning despite going to the end of year function at work the night before. And did my usual shifts and dealt with staff and customers. Only to receive another call at half past 12. "Be here by 3, they want to operate tomorrow". It's now half past 1 and I've made it home, packed my bags and had a shower. The hospital is thankfully only 5-10 minutes from my house so this should be fairly easy.
Still, it's pretty frustrating to be cancelled, then told to go back to work expecting to get a call in a week or a month to advise and then suddenly be dragged back in unprepared. Of course, this is the public system so I'm not paying a cent, something that I'm VERY VERY grateful for. And I understand why these scheduling issues occur and that nothing can be done. But I'm frustrated none the less.
Anyway, I'll be heading in within the next hour or so and hopefully continue to update via the magic of internetsuperphone. Provided I manage to get credit on it and don't forget my charger. We shall see!
As my surgery is non-urgent I can be bumped from the my position relatively easily.
Upon returning home I was told by the schedulers to wait for a phone call the next day as to when I might go again. Bright and early the next morning, Wednesday, I received said phone call. "Wait and see" was the message I was given, go back to work and see what happens.
So I made it to work this morning despite going to the end of year function at work the night before. And did my usual shifts and dealt with staff and customers. Only to receive another call at half past 12. "Be here by 3, they want to operate tomorrow". It's now half past 1 and I've made it home, packed my bags and had a shower. The hospital is thankfully only 5-10 minutes from my house so this should be fairly easy.
Still, it's pretty frustrating to be cancelled, then told to go back to work expecting to get a call in a week or a month to advise and then suddenly be dragged back in unprepared. Of course, this is the public system so I'm not paying a cent, something that I'm VERY VERY grateful for. And I understand why these scheduling issues occur and that nothing can be done. But I'm frustrated none the less.
Anyway, I'll be heading in within the next hour or so and hopefully continue to update via the magic of internetsuperphone. Provided I manage to get credit on it and don't forget my charger. We shall see!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
2 days out - Questions
Tomorrow I go into the hospital to prep for surgery on Wednesday.
I have a number of questions I've been unable to find satisfactory answers to online so I figured I'd post them here and then come back once I had an answer from the surgeon tomorrow.
1. What side effects can I expect after surgery?
2. Will my memory be affected short or long term if everything goes according to plan?
One of the potential complications is memory impairment. What about if there're no complications?
3. Will I be able to read books or watch TV or should I avoid concentrating on things for a while?
I've read around the place that concentrating after neurosurgery can be very difficult.
4. How soon will I be able to fly?
I'm planning on going to Kiwicon in Wellington at the end of November so I'd love to be able to fly down for it.
5. Will I be in intensive care afterward or will I be awake immediately after?
I have a number of questions I've been unable to find satisfactory answers to online so I figured I'd post them here and then come back once I had an answer from the surgeon tomorrow.
1. What side effects can I expect after surgery?
2. Will my memory be affected short or long term if everything goes according to plan?
One of the potential complications is memory impairment. What about if there're no complications?
3. Will I be able to read books or watch TV or should I avoid concentrating on things for a while?
I've read around the place that concentrating after neurosurgery can be very difficult.
4. How soon will I be able to fly?
I'm planning on going to Kiwicon in Wellington at the end of November so I'd love to be able to fly down for it.
5. Will I be in intensive care afterward or will I be awake immediately after?
3 days out
I'm three days away from my first and hopefully only brain surgery.
All going according to plan I'll be having surgery at some point during the day on the 27th of October.
I figure I should begin with some background as to what's happening. A few years ago, coming back from a party, I fell off my skateboard and got a fairly serious concussion which landed me in hospital. As part of that I ended up getting a CT scan to make sure nothing particularly major had occurred. During the CT scan the hospital found a colloid cyst (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloid_cyst) between the 3rd and 4th ventricles in my brain.
For the last 2-3 years I've been having MRI scans on a semi regular basis (every 6-9 months) to see if the cyst was getting any bigger. If it got any larger it had the potential to cause hydrocephaly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocephalus) leading to permanent damage. This is because it would have blocked the flow of cerebro-spinal fluid between the 3rd and 4th ventricle.
A few months ago I was booked in with the neurospecialist who was dealing with my case. After a long discussion he suggested that sooner rather than later was the time to have it out. He specifically said that if I was 50 he wouldn't have bothered but as I'm 23 that now was the time to have it out. I don't want to collapse on vacation or some remote village in Europe...
There are some potential risks involved certainly, a 3% chance of unspecified complications, presumably memory issues given that the cyst sits near the amygdala and the foramen of Munro which are both involved in short term memory processing.
However, leaving it in is another 3% risk of it swelling and causing issues. In which case I'd have to get surgery to have it out anyway, another 3%. If I remember highschool maths rightly you multiply the percentages in this case and end up with 9% chance of serious complications. So I'd rather have it out now than risk it causing serious damage at some unspecified date down the track.
Still, I'm pretty nervous. I figured I'd write this all down since I wasn't able to find any particularly useful resources online. Hopefully other people will read it and get a better idea of what it's like.
I plan to continue posting after surgery, assuming I'm able to concentrate enough to write or that there haven't been any serious complications.
If you have any questions please post them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.
All going according to plan I'll be having surgery at some point during the day on the 27th of October.
I figure I should begin with some background as to what's happening. A few years ago, coming back from a party, I fell off my skateboard and got a fairly serious concussion which landed me in hospital. As part of that I ended up getting a CT scan to make sure nothing particularly major had occurred. During the CT scan the hospital found a colloid cyst (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloid_cyst) between the 3rd and 4th ventricles in my brain.
For the last 2-3 years I've been having MRI scans on a semi regular basis (every 6-9 months) to see if the cyst was getting any bigger. If it got any larger it had the potential to cause hydrocephaly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocephalus) leading to permanent damage. This is because it would have blocked the flow of cerebro-spinal fluid between the 3rd and 4th ventricle.
A few months ago I was booked in with the neurospecialist who was dealing with my case. After a long discussion he suggested that sooner rather than later was the time to have it out. He specifically said that if I was 50 he wouldn't have bothered but as I'm 23 that now was the time to have it out. I don't want to collapse on vacation or some remote village in Europe...
There are some potential risks involved certainly, a 3% chance of unspecified complications, presumably memory issues given that the cyst sits near the amygdala and the foramen of Munro which are both involved in short term memory processing.
However, leaving it in is another 3% risk of it swelling and causing issues. In which case I'd have to get surgery to have it out anyway, another 3%. If I remember highschool maths rightly you multiply the percentages in this case and end up with 9% chance of serious complications. So I'd rather have it out now than risk it causing serious damage at some unspecified date down the track.
Still, I'm pretty nervous. I figured I'd write this all down since I wasn't able to find any particularly useful resources online. Hopefully other people will read it and get a better idea of what it's like.
I plan to continue posting after surgery, assuming I'm able to concentrate enough to write or that there haven't been any serious complications.
If you have any questions please post them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.
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