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Chronic Migraine, Food, Hotels, Life, Occipital Neuralgia, Surgery

The Noggin’ Chronicles Part 4

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Surgery Update: Day 4 / 04-03-23

As for yesterday… I didn’t wash my hair. It required too much energy. Housekeeping didn’t come. Hubs had to fetch towels and TP from the powers that be downstairs. Storms forecasted for the Metroplex weren’t bad. I could tell the shift of the barometric pressure, but didn’t get a full-blown, knock-me-on-my-ass migraine triggered by the ON nerves which have been decompressed and / or persuaded into a better position or removed entirely. 

Also last night (Sunday) the “pain” started kicking in as I think some of the blocks have started wearing off. I can tell where my head has been sliced and diced with something better than Ginsu knives. I will always have my best friends, but right now, ice, in all it’s frozen wonder, is rather at the top of the list of everything I cannot live without. 

My accomplishment for the day: I went a little longer without my pain meds this morning because I wanted to take a shower and I didn’t want to be woozy or anything on a slick surface. The hotel has dual shower heads and it was amazing. I mean, this was a real shower with warm water, smells good soap, a razor and baby shampoo. I’m paying for it now and resting with my head on ice, but it is so great to be “clean.” 

It’s 1628 CDT and poor Hubs has gone to fetch dinner. I don’t think he ate lunch. He wanted to try and get me out to go eat with some of the cousins who live in the Metroplex, but I can’t hold my head up that long. It feels as though a bowling ball rests on my shoulders. It makes me seriously wonder what the drive home will be like. I have the travel pillow that I’ve been using, but I seriously wonder if a small neck brace would be more beneficial. I’ve read from other surgical patients who when they had to return to work such a brace has helped. I suppose we’ll have to see. 

Dinner break. I’m the luckiest girl in the world. I didn’t think I was hungry, but man oh man… Hubs and I just scarfed down an In-N-Out burger and fries and it was so good. Muah! Kisses to the “chef.” This is one of the advantages to coming to the DFW Metroplex.

Yumminess that has to be experienced first-hand…

Tomorrow morning (Tuesday 04-04-23) I’m supposed to get the drain out of my head. I’ve always made jokes about my brain leaking out, but this actually looks like it’s happening. It’s so weird. It’s also a bit gross and it’s warm. It’s fascinating in a medical sense and I can’t help but think of all the things my mother would say about it and also want to know. She was the “Queen” of asking doctors questions about anything medical. She was always watching and learning things via television. Mom was also always trying to find out more about my conditions and continually offered suggestions, even bizarre things, if she thought it was “worth a try.” Admittedly, her help sometimes launched a disagreement about my treatment. She had her own neurological issues so there was commonality there, but oddly, she never really did much research into her own conditions. It’s like she got the diagnoses and gave up the fight, just accepting life was what it was going to be. That’s something that’s hard to understand, but we all have our own ways of approaching the harder things in life.  

It should be obvious, but I have thought about her quite a bit as she wasn’t here to ask what she thought about the procedure or the pros/cons. I’ve also had a few flash-backs while doling out my own daily meds and the similarities in how she used to do it with the way I do it is creepy, not in a bad way, but more in a “concerned I have become my mother” kind of way. 

Irrespective, the drain is coming out tomorrow come hell or high water. It’s probably going to hurt a bit, but hopefully nothing like the one the doctor pulled from my right knee. He gave me an “extra” hit of morphine before he did it and told me it was going to hurt. He didn’t lie. I’ll remember that particular experience until I die. I think my scream echoing through the hospital still haunts the halls. 

I suppose I should put this down and make the valiant effort to get some sleep before what appears to be a very long day tomorrow. Getting up “early”, eating something healthy, the to/from the doctor, driving about 6 hours to home. It will be an interesting test of my spirit, which needs to fight the good fight and win the race. It’s now 2122 CDT and I think a likely stopping point for the day. 

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Chronic Migraine, Hotels, Life, Occipital Neuralgia, Surgery

The Noggin’ Chronicles Part 3

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Surgery Updates: Day 3 / 04-02-23

Fleas.

Not what you were expecting, eh? Neither was I, nor do I have them.  I do however have an itching about the noggin’ that is indescribably weird. 

A lot of my head is still very numb and likely will be for some time. However, the parts I actually can feel have me grossly attuned to the fact that the shaved hair is growing out and I just want it to stop. I mean, how do Marines cope with this? And Thank God it’s not 109 in the shade with sweat dripping from the cranium. I can only imagine. On the plus side, I think I’m going to get to wash my hair at some point today. I’d do a Snoopy dance here, but that requires energy I cannot muster. 

Pic: Grim1978

I’m also hoping that housekeeping comes through sooner rather than later. (I want a nap and fighting the meds to stay awake for said momentous occasion is hard.) We’ve been tidying the room ourselves, but after more than a few days here, I’d like some fresh towels and TP. Especially the TP. There’s a great many things in life I can do without, but TP is rather an essential.  Boy, I wish they would arrive. Maybe a nap is actually in order…

Chronic Migraine, Hotels, Occipital Neuralgia, Shopping, Surgery

The Noggin’ Chronicles Part 2

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Journaled 04-01-23

I don’t know if you guys want or care to read about these adventures of mine, but here I am nonetheless. I’d honestly rather be at home, but the hotel isn’t bad. We are staying at the SpringHill Suites by Marriott off the Northwest Highway. This was a good decision on my part. I’m not crazy about the part of town we are in – not that I’ve really gotten out, but I think this hotel offers the amenities that we need for the stay. At least it’s pretty much the epitome of quiet, which helps this abused head of mine. 

I can’t say enough amazing things about my poor hubby who’s waiting on me like I’m the queen or something. He is also keeping me in line – making me get up regularly and walk laps around the hotel suite. So I walk from the bay window to the door and back again. It sucks, but he’s right. 

The view from the bay window toward the hotel room door. The room is divided by an actual door between the bed/bath area and the “living” area.

Ooooh… he also helped me get my first shower since Wednesday morning.  I still cannot wash my hair ( or what’s left of it,) but at least I smell like a human and have clean jammies on. I’m also utterly exhausted by all the moving around. However, the shower was indeed worth it. 

A few observations: 1) I can turn my head to the right side a little bit and to the left a bit more. You have no idea how many times a day you turn your head until you cannot. 2) My head is heavy. Today I’m really feeling the “aftermath” of the surgery and holding my head up takes more effort than I like. I’m particularly grateful for the travel pillow as it helps to some degree. It’s also handy for keeping ice packs in place. 3) You have no idea how many times you have to look down, reach down or do anything “down” until you cannot. It’s entirely stupid not to be able to bend down to pick something off the floor. However, this is a strict instruction because I cannot risk raising the blood pressure in my head. I was told this multiple times and it’s also written on every surgical instruction thingy I’ve received. I accidentally reached down once to pick up something off the floor. That’s officially a hard “Nope” for me. 

Pic Courtesy Carlos Obrien
It’s really a long way down to the ground, especially if you aren’t supposed to “go there.”

I’m also supposed to take my BP every 12 hours, but I don’t have a cuff or anything. I didn’t know I was going to need one until after surgery otherwise I would have brought one down. (However, my BP normally runs low so I’m not too worried.) I honestly don’t see the point of buying one at this particular point.  Hubs actually went to the Walmart near the hotel right after I was released from the hospital. Not a one. They did actually have a thermometer, another thing I could have brought from home had I known, but I have to make sure I’m not running a fever as well. (So far, so good.)

That specific Walmart had an unusually  crummy selection of clothing, but I can’t complain. Why? Hubs bought me the MOST comfy jammies on the face of the earth. I think I need a few more pairs. (Just sayin’.) Unfortunately,  the reality of this situation is I’m actually going to have to buy a few more things to make healing from surgery easier. I should have taken to heart the advise from others who have gone through this surgery with more urgency, but you know me… I apparently like to learn things the hard way. 

Side note: You may not know this about me, but fact: I deplore shopping for clothes and shoes, evidenced by wearing the same things repeatedly whether they “look good” or not. (This is also part of the problem with finding something for Eldest’s wedding, an entirely different beast, but suffice it to say, I hate shopping for clothes.) This really should be it’s own post… I digressed. Truly sorry.

Unfortunately, Eldest and Youngest are bearing the brunt of Hubs and I being gone. I didn’t realize we’d be down here so long. I thought I’d be back at home in my own bed by now, but, their plans have been completely interrupted by this mayhem. Again, had I known…. 

I also wanted to take the time to say a most sincere thank you for the prayers and the encouraging words, text messages and memes that have lifted my spirits. There’s no possible way I can every repay that kind of love and support, but it has meant the world to me and by extension, Hubs. 

Now it’s time to eat some more soup and try to get some rest in. I did a bit much today, but I’ll figure it all out at some point. Much love ❤