I wanted to give an update on the surgery.
The insurance coverage was an issue down to the day of the pre-op, in the end they agreed to cover like In-Network because of the experience of Dr. Gantz. Lots of stress but everybody was happy going into surgery. She had 3 people for support, me (dad), her mom and her boyfriend.
Surgery was done on 5/20 by Dr. Gantz and assistance from Dr. Mawry (sp?). He came out when he was done about 1pm and said he was able to all of the AN out and preserve both facial nerves and hearing. The 3 of us were so happy. The best possible outcome! WOW.
About 24hrs later the brain swelling started to have significant impact on her cognitive abilities. There were 3 noticeable areas: 1) Not understanding questions, I pointed at clock and said "what is this object" she said 5pm (the current time). 2) She struggled finding the right word, she pointed at a fan in the corner and said "fix the ice", I said do you mean the fan, she said yes. 3) She was also was able to identify a phone correctly, but didn't know what it was for.
They did a CT scan to confirm no bleeding Sat night, it showed swelling but no bleeding. They moved here to Neuro IC unit to make sure she was monitored closely, every 2 hours. The DRs indicated that the language issues were specifically impacted because AN was on the Left side, Left Frontal Lobe is the language center. She slowly continued to decline, they did an MRI on Sunday night to confirm still no bleeding, and wanted to confirm no stroke. Monday early AM the Chief of Neuro came by and talked to me and said no strokes, just swelling and it should improve soon. By Monday night we started to see improvement and moved out of Neuro IC to normal room, by Tuesday AM we saw more improvement, and more yet Wed AM.
We checked out Wed noon and stayed in Iowa City until noon the next day before drive back to TwinCities. All of us needed the sleep. After 5 days of rotating shifts and not much sleep we all slept well. The drive wasn't too bad for her. She napped alot. We stopped a few times to get her out and moving so she was tired and able to sleep for the next driving section. We took 6 hrs for a 4.75hr drive.
She is not having problems 1 or 2 but still is having a few issues with some understanding in reading comprehension etc.
She is walking about 2 times a day for 3 blocks. Having some "dizzy" issues but not really sick. This is way better than I expected. She over did it yesterday, after getting out stitches, she cleaned here room for 4 hours. Today she has had headaches and she has been dizzy much of the day. We expected ups and downs, today was a down. But in general she is progressing well.
Thanks everyone for your kind words of encouragement. We couldn't be happier with our decision and results.
Thanks to Dr. Gantz and his Univ of Iowa team!
Dan, and daughter Marie.
