Hi all,
I am now 5 weeks post op and I wanted to checked in to give an update. In the past few weeks, I have gotten some PMs from other members of the forum asking about my recovery and have found some comfort in my story. I wanted to share my recovery and so far it has been a good outcome. Sorry if I repeat my story a bit since some people don't like to search back to my original post.
A quick update on my stats, I had a 2.0 AN tumor. I had great hearing prior to surgery, and only slight numbness in my chin. I was given 60% of saving my hearing nerve by Dr. Slattery. 3 weeks after my diagnosis, I had retro sig surgery with Slattery/Schwartz at House. Choosing them was a no brainer for me, because they did so many of these surgeries and they know how to assess and deal with any type of situations. After surgery, I was told they saved both my hearing and facial nerves. I didn't have much facial weakness, just a slight crooked smile. I was able to hear right after surgery but not well. I didn't have any leakage due to the fact that Dr. Schwartz decided to drain my spinal fluid for a few days to ensure that there was no issue. Personally I think this is why I think the House team is so great. They have so much experience with this that he saw I have a more "wet" bloody surgery and thought that this was the best procedure to ensure no complications later. My time in the hospital was pretty smooth since the nurses and docs were great at taking care of me.
Week 2-3 were difficult since I had intense nausea followed by nerve pain when I returned home. I'm not going to lie but those were the worst weeks for me. But I was finally given meds (after trying a few things) that helped with both situation and eventually they subsided. Despite the good recovery I feel now, I don't want to downplay the difficulty of the initial recovery. My family was amazing in taking care of me.
Week 4 to now: I am now only on Gabapentin which is a anti seizure med for the nerve pain and nothing else. I have no pain, no nausea. I was able to drive this week. I have returned to work but in a more relaxed capacity. I can hear decently well. I know it is not 100% yet but it is pretty good. I can tell it is improving everyday. I have some tinnitus and alittle bit of stuffiness in my ear sometimes but it is really not bad. My slight facial weakness is also getting better. I wasn't able to wink a week ago and now I can. My smile is no longer crooked and looks normal. I think I will be able to stop Gabapentin soon but I don't have any side effects from it. All in all, I feel pretty normal now.
I have my 6 weeks appt with House next week to check my hearing and will post my results. Anyway, this is my story and I want to post something positive because I know when I was feeling better, I stopped posting on the forum. I do think that there are positive results and I hope more people will share them.
Jeninla
