My mom and I spent alot of time talking during the night. We were both still in shock over what was happening. I couldn't sleep anyway because of the neurological checks, they were waking me up for every half an hour. I passed them all with flying colors. Yes, I knew what my name was and where I was. I did experience some pain once the general anesthetic had worn off but after a bag of codeine and some T#3's I was comfortable. The morning came and it was time for the doctors rounds. This was an interesting experience! They sort of talk about you like you're not there and there were some words between two of them which weren't very nice. I felt like sticking up for my surgical resident and saying excuse me. He just saved my life. Leave him alone!! But I stayed out of it and just listened intently to what they were saying. It sounded like I was doing really well. I would be going down for a CT scan for them to see how things looked. My surgeon came in a little while later and he looked a lot happier than the previous day. He said, "Ready to go home?" Are you kidding me? I would love to go home and see my boys! I thought at first that he was joking but no, he was completely serious. Wow! You can have brain surgery then go home the next day?! I stayed longer in the hospital when I had Kaden.
The surgeon then noticed Michael (my brother-in-law) standing there with his coat on that reads: Gift of Life Program. Michael works for this program coordinating transplants. My surgeon had a very confused look on his face. He kept looking over at Micheal, then over at me. I told him that this was my brother-in-law and then he understood why he was there. Not to take my organs! As he was leaving to arrange my discharge he says to Michael, "You just leave her alone." It was so hilarious! We all couldn't stop laughing. He has a great sense of humour. I love that! Not everything has to be all serious all the time. I have laughed a lot through all of this. It makes me feel so much better. So the saying must be true: Laughter is the best medicine.
I got all of my tubes and lines out and went down for my head CT. It wasn't long when I came back up that they had the results and everything looked good. The physician's assistant was super nice and even showed us the before and after CTs. It was so unreal to see the first one where there was a huge tumour and then the after where it was just gone! I had some breakfast and then that was it - I could leave. When Jeff came in he was surprised, to say the least, that they were letting me go. They had initially told us that I would be in for 3 days. I was very anxious to get home though. There really wasn't anything they could do for me that I couldn't do at home. And this was during the H1N1 outbreak so I really just wanted to be at home. As Laura was wheeling me out everyone was waving and wishing me all the best. We have so many caring and compassionate health care staff. As I was being wheeled out that day I was so full of joy. I felt so thankful for everything in my life and I couldn't wait to hug my boys!
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You are so right when you talk about laughter. Before my Brother's biopsy of his brain tumor, he joked that he should be a shoe in for a management job after they remove half his brain. I teased him that I was going to line up 10 kids to visit him after surgery and tell him they were all his. It sounds a bit rude, given the circumstances, but really, we just needed to laugh.
ReplyDeleteMy brother actually gets CD copies of his CT scans that he can look at on his computer. I'm not sure how helpful it is, but it is interesting to see. Considering his is inoperable, we look to see changes in shape and size. He takes them to his non-traditional practitioners (like his homeopathic doc) to look at.
I love reading your journey. Thank you so much for sharing it. I hope it helps you as much does all of us who know you.