2 Weeks Post Op

Wow, what a difference another week makes. I'll run through the issues but first a little commentary. Now that I getting out and about more often, the comment I keep hearing is that I don't look like I've just had surgery... particularly brain surgery. And ironically despite how I feel, that's very true. I don't have any bruises, no black eyes, no visible point of incision, heck I don't even have a cool scar to bore my future grand kids with... Visually, it's like it never happened. My surgeon was like a ninja stealth samurai. He went in with a knife, I know he did, but I didn't see it and neither did anyone else and there is no visible proof... Somehow that has a way of hindering your recovery. It has a way of inserting an element of doubt, almost dream-like, did it really happen? One quick sensory check confirms what you already know but as you heal, it just leaves more room for doubt. Here's a quick run down of my list of issues:

• headache/head pressure - mild/tolerable
• extreme neck pain - 99% gone
• no sense of smell - 100% back
• distorted sounds - 100% gone
• sharp pain in ribs - 80% gone

New to the list:

• slow bowels
• insomnia

Of my original issues, only the sharp pain in the ribs remains but not to the same degree. As I mentioned previously, I found that I could support my left pectoral muscle and avoid pain while I was walking. That eventually led to my simply protectively favoring my left arm over my ribs. As my mobility improved, the pain subsided by an equal amount. It's not completely gone but I'm no longer visibly favoring my arm over my ribs and I think within a few days, it will be gone completely. New on the list is slow bowels and insomnia. I'm told that's these are side-effects of the medication. Percocet (for pain) slows down the bowels and the hydrocortisone (reduces swelling and provides needed hormones after surgery) keeps you awake. So I'm trying to regulate when I take the medication in an effort to improve my condition. My headache is still present but I'd classify it as mild and can ignore it for the most part. There are times when the pressure seems to build to quite unbearable levels but then it subsides after a minute or so. I can generally tolerate the cycles for a couple days and then I'll take a pain pill just to take a break from it. The neck pain is no longer what I would describe as pain. I would say it's more like fatigue now. After I've been up for a while, it feels better to rest my neck a bit by laying down. It's quite manageable now and I no longer consider it a major issue. This past week had brought about many major improvements. I have had to recover from many injuries over the years. For me, bruises or muscle soreness usually only lasts about 3 days. I can't recall any that required more than 5 days to be as good as new. Here, two weeks have passed, and while I can't say that I'm as good as new, I can says that I'm well on my way. Now if only my ninja samurai surgeon had left a few bruises or visible marks, then I'd at least some visual cues to help gauge my recovery. Instead, I have to rely entirely on how I feel and not at all on how I look.