I wanted to share my good news of my successful Middle Fossa surgery at Keck Hospital with Dr Friedman two weeks ago. My surgery was very quick, one and half hours, the tumor simply feel away from my nerve. Which is a blessing as I know so many have dealt with "sticky tumors". Why is one tumor sticky and another not? Nobody seems to know. The tumor was right up against my choclear and my hearing was 100% preserved. I have a little conduction hearing loss as there is a small blood clot inside my ear that will resolve on its own. Basically one day soon I'll probably swallow the clot in my sleep (yuk!) and all my hearing will be back in that ear. My facial nerve was not affected. I was only in the hospital two nights. Surgery on Tuesday, discharged Thurs afternoon. If I had not been comfortable with the discharge they would have kept me longer. It was challenging when they first asked me to get out of bed the second day. So dizzy and nauseous, but that resolved (especially since I had to get up to go pee like every two hours - vestibular therapy at it's finest!) I had a bit of double vision that cleared up after about a week. Fri and Saturday after discharge I just walked around our little "bungalow" rental and took two brave trips to the grocery store - which was way more challenging than I figured it would be. On Sunday, we ventured to the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in Pasadena (where we were staying) and walked around with the walker...just taking it very easy but was very therapeutic. Unfortunately, when went for my post op on Monday, they discovered a very small CSF leak. I had told the doc I had some sort of flem in my throat that was causing me to cough at night and he had me tilt my head right away between my knees...45 seconds later...drip drip drip drip. We were told to NOT due that so I had no idea I had a leak. So I had to be admitted back to the hospital to have a lumbar drain put in, and was stuck there for 4 1/2 days...ugh. But everyone was so very nice at the hospital from the doctors, to the nurses, to the pt and occupational therapists to the housekeepers and food service folk! Couldn't recommend this place enough. Friday the drain came out, and yesterday Tuesday, we flew home and I am doing very well. I have no dizzyness and pretty good balance and I am able to type on a computer. I may even be back to work part time next week (I work at home as a computer programmer)...we'll see.
I wanted to share my good news here as this forum has been a great support to me over the past seven months and I wanted to pay it forward!
Bonnie
