Most of you already know how I am doing because I have been posting a lot, but I figured I would do a four week update for future pre-ops.
The Good:
At four weeks, I think I am doing extremely well. I'm basically back to my regular life. I am back to taking care of my children, driving, and doing light housework (I still avoid heavy lifting- including my chunky 3 1/2 year old son!). I will go back to classes tomorrow. I do feel like I could use an extra week or two to rest (if I had it), but I don't feel like I am really pushing myself beyond my capabilities at this point either. I am returning to school because sitting in a classroom taking notes is not strenuous and I think getting behind in my work would be far more stressful and harmful in the long run than actually going and trying to stay on top of things.
I feel very fortunate that I never had any facial weakness. My incision looks very good. When my hair is down, I think I look completely normal.
The Bad:
I still get tired and I still feel like I need a nap by mid-afternoon. I don't have the energy I did pre-op, nor the concentration quite yet. Also, although my balance has come SOOOO far, I still have some fine-tuning to do. My standing still balance is better than before surgery, but when I get in crowded areas or uneven terrain (the mall, for example), I still have to concentrate a bit more. I don't feel 100% steady in those situations yet.
Also, my head really hurts when I go out in the cold (and we've been having a record cold snap here in Florida lately). The left side of my head is still very numb and tender. However, the headaches I was experiencing from the tight muscles are all but gone. I don't need any medication at this point to deal with any of the little aches and pains. They pass pretty quickly.
I don't sleep through the night yet. I still wake up once or twice, at least. I think this is because I can't really lay on the AN side yet unless I roll all of the way over to my face. So, I think I'm waking up when I either get uncomfortable laying on my one side or if I try to roll over in my sleep and the pain in my head wakes me up. Either way, I have been able to go back to sleep when this happens. I'm not sleeping great, but I wasn't before my surgery either, so that really hasn't changed.
Learning to cope with the SSD is an up and down thing. It is really obvious in certain situations, and I've already had one or two slightly embarrassing situations because of it. I think that will be the hardest thing to deal with long-term. I have an appointment with an audiologist on Monday, so I will begin to think about what to do.
Also, I mentioned earlier that my concentration isn't quite back, but I wanted to expand on that a bit. I don't feel like I can fully focus yet. I've noticed, even in my posts here, that I will make silly grammatical or spelling errors that I normally wouldn't make. I also noticed when I was doing my reading for my classes next week that I have trouble focusing for very long and remembering what I read. I hope that will return with time.
That's about all. I really feel very fortunate. I think my outcome was very close to my best case scenario, with the exception of the SSD. I am not happy to have dealt with an AN, but I do feel like I did it with the best attitude I could. I try to remember how blessed I was that it was not cancer and that now that my surgery is over, I am free to move on with my life.
