longer.blue

Brain: Healing! Swelling is starting to go down from the surgery. Swelling will continue to go down for 4 weeks or longer. Ears: My hearing has been a little quiet because of the swelling but does feel like better now. Vision: Have some dark spots in my vision, blurriness or lack of focus sometimes. Much better than a week ago and should get better and better. Craniotomy scar: Staples came off day 13. Very careful cleaning in this area. Sleeping with my head perched up to reduce swelling. Top of my head still feels numb, will feel that way for a while. Skull bones will heal for many months. Lifting: 4 more weeks to go, can't lift over 5lbs. Can't bend down at all. Sleep: I can sleep a little bit longer now, about 5hr stints then I'm wide awake. I'll take a nap later but I feel pretty wired from a daily steroid that is helping the inflammation heal, essential for recovery. Cognition: Feeling much better than a week ago in terms of finding and remembering words. Much harder in the evenings to form complex thoughts or find proper words. Playing video games and they're harder than usual as I get lost sometimes, but generally really fun and I feel like it's helping my brain make connections. Eating: Starving all the time! Ian makes me breakfast, lunch and dinner. Can trust myself to do small things in the kitchen but I don't want to hurt myself accidentally. Reading: Reading on my phone and computer is fine for internet searches. I catch myself reading things over and over to understand fully what is going on. I haven't really tried to read a book, I find focusing too hard on long paragraphs difficult. Having a lot of difficulty describing nuanced topics, easier to hear them in my head but difficult to type them out. Walking: Have had essentially no trouble walking or any motcontrol issues! The only issue with going outside is the outside world is stimulating my brain too much. I am walking outside everyday on short walks to get outside. Falling even accidentally could go really dangerous for my head, so we are just being cautious on the stairs and dodging people on the sidewalk. Fatigue: Big brain tasks make me tired, walking around outside or trying to do too many tasks at once. (Watching TV and reading Reddit) so then I just take a nap. Seizure risk: seizure risk is highest during surgery and right after surgery. I am on the same medication I have been taking since April. There's a number of things that can increase your seizure threshold like stress, alcohol, lack of sleep, etc. None of that is happening right now so I feel pretty safe. Mood: Generally feeling okay! My brain feels stupid and kind of soft, it feels difficult to get really upset or depressed. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it feels like my brain is protecting me from harm by treating me with kid gloves. The most stressed I have been since I've been at home is Survivor season 51 stressing me out!! I've also been dealt some sad news in the last week, which upset me in a confusing way. I am obviously upset but my brain is having a difficult time comprehending fully and fully accessing my emotions. Next step: Waiting to learn about pathology will decide the rest of treatment, how well my quality of life will be, what we have to do next, etc. This is the most important piece of the puzzle we are waiting for. Should know soon.