I tried posting this but had some troubles, not sure if it worked... so i cut and paste and here it is again...
I think i am about 10 weeks from surgery although i seem to have lost track of time...
Anyway i wanted to post an update about where i have been, and where i am at now. I try to check this site every few days and see what's up, so i am still around!
So today i did my first run since surgery. I am still having double vision so i am wearing an eye patch, and though my balance is good (and has been since getting out of the hospital) i was happy to have the support of the jogging stroller i took Cali out in. I didn't run too much (perhaps only 10 min) and walked here and there for the rest of the 25min, but then again i think i have lost a lot of cardio fitness since i stoped running regularly when winter hit last year. ANYWAY, i was slow but steady. Felt fine, good. I have been so keen to run again. I recall laying in hospital for a week, one eye closed, the other permanently open, bad hair, and all that... and i took such pride in telling the nurses that i was "a runner", even a marathon runner (i ran NYC, and about a dozen half marathons) and i remember thinking that i would run again. And i did, well it's a start. I am now thinking that maybe i can do the 5km run for breast cancer research at the end of september (the "run for the cure" here in Toronto). I did it last year, my first "race" since having a baby in March last year.
I have seen two different opthamolgists, with the latter one telling me to come back at 3 months post surgery (early september) for some testing to try to sort out my double vision (DV). The first one i saw told me that i could consider surgery after 6 months if the DV does not fix. I really hope it does not come to that, but at this point i don't have much sense that it will get better. Perhaps i am one of those "rare" cases of DV that never improves. Gosh i hope not... I don't even wear glasses. I have been spoiled with great vision until now!
I had a planned/routine CT scan last week (to check for any fluid issues... nothing, all good) and then was to meet with the n.surgeon who i had on June 2 surgery. This was to be my first follow up since leaving hospital. Unfortunately the surgeon went on medical leave (6 months, i think it's a bad diagnosis) the day before. So i meet with his replacement, which didn't help me much as she was not there for my surgery. I am now planning to get a follow-up with another of the surgeons who was there. I really want to understand what might have happened to cause the DV.
Anyway, other than this horrible DV (which does not bother me much as i wear a patch, so really it's the patch that bugs me!) and the facial paralysis (which the N.surgeon i meet last week said should improve based on only some weakness right after surgery... what a blur that was!), i am doing well. My incision has healed nicely, my hair is growing fast (though with long hair no one can even tell they shaved a bit patch of my head!). I am not having headaches, balance issues, fatigue, pain. Recovery has gone well i think. I am planning to return to work at the beginning of September, patch and all.
I hope that the doctors i see in September can give me some answers about 'where to from here', but in the mean time, i am just grateful to have the decision process and surgery behind me. As tough as the post surgery process has been (though i didn't have it too bad), I really think it was worse before when i was dealing with the diagnosis, decision making process (surgery vs. rads), and then waiting for surgery. It's good to be on the other side of this thing, even if it comes with facial/eye issues.
Like many say, one day at a time.
Good things to you all.
Trish
