Satman,
Yes it is "normal" for what you went through. In fact, your condition sounds a great deal like mine was. I was hit really bad as well. I couldn't go any longer with the size growth I had. I had a seperate surgery for a shunt installation one month before the tumor surgery. I had hydrocephalus really bad.
I was fortunate in that I had no facial paralysis at all. I had no eyelid difficulties either, yet they had me putting that ointment in my eye every night for a while. The left side of my face is still a bit numb but much better than what it was just after surgery. I had to drink through a straw for months afterward. I don't have to anymore. When I was in the hospital, my face was so messed up and numb, I had to be spoon-fed for two weeks. The hearing in your ear will never return because the nerve has been taken out.
As far as walking is concerned, just try to do a little every day until you build the strength back up. Are you getting any physical therapy? You should.
Before I got really stricken by this thing, I was an avid jogger - I still am. I was running 5 miles a day up until I started to lose my equilibrium until the distance gradually shortened during the last year to the point where I could barely take a step. By the time I got out of the hospital after three weeks, I was severly weakened. I remember trying to take a walk around the block with my girlfriend the day I came home from the hospital and not being able to make it. My leg muscles were so sore from that first walk I took that I was laid-up for several days after, waiting for the traumatized muscles in my legs to heal up again. I'm back to doing what I used to before getting sick.
Balance was and still is an issue as is double vision. But my core strength is good and that is what grounds me and keeps me going. I have good days and bad days. Fatigue is another problem that you will most likely be dogged with during your recovery. There will be problems - like the deafness - that will never leave you. Other problems such as balance and numbess, may gradually improve to the point that you don't notice them and they don't really bother you, although they never entirely heal or go away.
One of the keys to recovery is to try to stay strong. Do what you can to keep in shape after you regain enough strength and stamina to start to be active again. You can do it. For one thing, you're only 41 right now.
Being two months out from surgery, you still have a lot of healing to do. I was wondering, what were the dimensions of your growth and what hospital were you treated in?
Just for curiosity sake, here's a link to an old post of my MRI scans from the archives:
http://anausa.org/forum/index.php?topic=1257.msg12861#msg12861 Take care and keep the faith! Paul
