Well its been 12 weeks since my 10 hour AN removal surgery and although I have residual tumour left on my facial nerve I am confident it will disappear in time. I am confident my MRI wont show any regrowth. It is now 4 weeks since my 4 hour CSF surgery and I have no leakage but it is a bit weird having no ear canal though, however this does not really affect me in any way.
My balance is great, no need for any excercises or therapy as I think it was so bad before surgery once AN was removed and my balance nerve it was almost back to normal. I still have facial issues....my eye does not blink or have any tears and I cannot smile yet, there has been some slight movement just under my eye on the cheekbone area. I assume thats a good sign, would be nice to have a normal eye though instead of having to rely on lube and drops.
I have an appointment with my ENT in a weeks time to get my clearance to start back in training at the gym for my next competition. I feel better than I have in a long time and apart from a CSF glitch I think I have a text book recovery and I am so glad I had this forum to educate myself and my family so we didnt panic so much when my face went south and my nose started leaking! I have been back doing full time work for sometime now except when I had a week off for surgery, it has been great as it makes me feel like my life is moving forward.
I have given myself permission to talk, complain and cry about all this AN stuff for one year but then I am going to put it behind me and move on. My personal opinion is people dont want to keep hearing me talk about it so I am not going to and I just want to forget about it. I will not let it change my life as it has taken up too much time and effort already. I'm alive and I am going to make the most of it. It is hard work staying positive but life is full of hardships and you just have to keep on keepin' on.
Jacqui
