Well, the surgery was a week ago. I got my stitches out today. Surgery went pretty well. The tumor is gone. It was bigger than all the other doctors thought. Only Dr. Gantz guessed the size correctly at 1.8cm. It was also stuck to my facial nerve, even though it was an acoustic neuroma. I'm thankful Dr. Gantz was performing the surgery. It was a sticky tumor and hard to get out since it was all over the place. My left balance nerve is gone. My hearing from the left ear is probably gone, although sometimes I think I can hear something out of that ear. My facial nerve is intact, but stretched out during surgery so not working very well yet. I was crying this morning because of my screwed up face, but when tears came out of my left eye too, I felt better. The doctors think it will all start working again in a few months. I'm praying for that. I'm starting to feel better and visited work briefly to talk to my supportive employer and co-workers, then went to out to lunch. Food tastes the same to me and the mac & cheese at noodles was really good. Came home and still felt fine, although a nap was definitely in order.
Thanks for all your support through this. A brain tumor and surgery is a scary thing and it helps to have people there for you who have gone through it before.
Julie
