3 Months Post Surgery - Reality Check

[kmr1969]

Hi all,

Today marks the 3 month anniversary from trans lab surgery to take care of an approx..3 cm AN at the House Clinic.
I feel like I am doing pretty well, but thought I would post my issues (I consider them more nuisances than problems) to get a bit of a reality check from the AN community.

My surgery was 11/13 and I returned to work on 1/7.  I have been working full-time since while occasionally skipping out about an hour early Driving has not been a problem for me since about 5 weeks after surgery.

My balance has been pretty good.  I think it has taken a slight step backward since I have been back to work.  Before returning to work I was doing daily 3 ½ mile walks on uneven ground, but since returning to work I have had to substitute by doing 1 ¾ miles on an elliptical machine for my daily exercise.  Hopefully, with the days getting longer I will soon be able to get in daily walks after work, as the roads around my house are not conducive to night walking.  I haven’t done many balance exercises, but I hope to be able to start doing a moderate exercise program (P90X) that I was doing pre-diagnosis and that program does a fair amount of stretching and yoga.  I emailed my doctor today to see if it is too soon to start really exercising again.

My face looks pretty normal at rest.  My right eye is slower blinking than my left eye and I would have to rate my smile and muscle movement on my right side at about 90%.  I haven’t been doing any facial exercises for a while, but still gently massage my face several times a day – usually when I am sitting in traffic.  I do continue to use drops in my right eye as it does still seem to get dry during the day.  The one symptom that I did not really have pre surgery that I do have post- surgery is a fair amount of numbness inside the right side of my mouth and on the right side of my tongue.  Plus, my taste buds probably operate at about 80% - particularly noticeable with sweets.

The level of tinnitus is the same, maybe even a little less than pre-surgery, but it is not enough to keep me awake or really notice if there is enough other noise around.  Of course, I am SSD and that is a challenge.  I’m not sure that has completely sunk in yet.

Overall, I am happy with how things have gone so far.  I still face some minor fatigue issues and sometimes feel a little depressed by these obstacles, but it has all been manageable.

Is there anything else I should be doing or monitoring?

Thanks for reading and for your feedback,

Ken

[BRS89]

Ken,

You have been my "forward unit" as I have been watching your journey, and now that I am at 3 weeks today, I was wondering how the 3 month mark might look.

I am in balance hell right now, and cannot walk anywhere but on the treadmill to avoid either falling or being arrested for suspected public intoxication.

I do the vestibular head exercises I saw on youtube where you watch the x taped to a wall and move the head up and down and round while focusing. Nothing happening yet.

This is your thread, so I will not threadjack it with my stuff, but please continue to let me know your success. I have to coach a football team in 6 months, so I am really watching how things go for you and wish you the best.

Brandon

[Cheryl R]

Brandon, You are early in your recovery and it can vary so much with each of us.      The treadmill isn't going to give your brain the same help as just plain walking.  Use the walker and, or someone with you and keep at the walking ,in the house and outside.     How much compensation you had pre op can make a difference in how it goes post op.    It really does get better.        One can sometimes over do in some ways to prove that you will be "normal"" again.   Recovery can take longer for some than others.       Go to a mall too if need be.    Don't worry about how it looks to others.      This is a hard time for you but hang in there and know we know how it feels!
                                              I wish you well!                   Cheryl R

[BRS89]

Thank you Cheryl. Hopefully someone can give insight to Ken's questions as they interest alot of us behind him.

[LakeErie]

As already mentioned, recovery times varies. Like you, I had numbness in my face, lips, tongue and inside my lips and cheek. It finally started to improve at about 14 months. I still have some tongue symptoms, but my lips are mostly normal now at 16 months.
Depending on tumor size and location, complications vary. Also, nerves can be inadvertantly injured in dissecting the tumor, or blood supply to nerves can be cut off when manipulating the tumor, both of which can irritate the nerves or make them swell. The rule of thumb is 12 to 18 months for cranial nerves to heal. How long it takes to recover nerve function depends on many factors that cannot be predicted. Some people have perfect surgical conditions and quick recoveries, and others have inadvertant circumstances that dictate longer time periods to regain function. Good luck.

[mccsurg]

To get back to the OP and his questions, here's my input:

You're doing well on the working and driving.

It's never too early to start stretching and yoga. I would encourage you to also continue to push the walking as much as possible.

I also had a real issue with sweets for the first year or two after my surgery. Everything tasted sweeter than I thought it should. That resolved for me (for the most part). Given the anatomy of the facial nerve and it's proximity (entanglement) with cranial nerve VIII it seems that everyone has slightly different symptoms/recovery.

I'm 8 years out. Deafness is not silence. There is always background noise (like white noise) but I don't find it distracting at all. My tinnitus is what got me into the MRI scanner in the first place, so what I ended up with is much better than what started it all for me. As for the deafness, the only real challenges for me have been very noisy environments (restaurants, bars) and areas where it would be helpful to localize (i.e. which phone is ringing?).

Minor fatigue issues will persist forever. You'll be tempted to assign them to something else for a while, but eventually you'll realize that balancing by vision and proprioception is work. Hard work. It wears you out.

Sounds to me like you're doing great! Keep walking! If you really want a challenge (and have a very safe place to walk) try walking with your eyes shut. Let me know if you make 25 steps!

matt

[jaylogs]

Hello Ken! Congrats on the 3 month mark, I am sure you know that these things just take time.  My doctors all advised me to just stay active and the balance thing will work itself out in due time.  There's no set timetable on this, so just try to be patient.  I know how it goes.  But from the sounds of things, you are doing exactly what you should be, just don't push it if starts to feel too much.  Someone told me that a good rule of thumb is for every hour you are under anesthia, it'll take a month to recover.  Of course everyone is different, but for myself, that seemed pretty accurate as about six months was when I really started feeling "normal".  Good luck and keep us posted!
Jay