Side effects

Shockingly, I know, but there are a few side effects to having brain surgery. I've plugged her blog a billion times, but I got a good list of things to expect from The Everywhereist after she had her surgery. So I knew what I was getting into.

And, I'm not going to post here about the TMI stuff. Well, I try not to, but occasionally things do show up.

But I am recovering. I mean, things are, for the most part, back to normal for me. There are no meds I'm currently taking (except Tylenol for headaches, and I haven't taken that in two weeks), the fatigue is fading, I'm returning to normal. I mean, if you were to walk up to me on the street, you'd probably have no idea the ordeal we've been through in the past two months.

Unless you said something that confused me. And then you'd find my "tell," my one dead giveaway that something is abnormal.

How much have I told about the second surgery? How in detail did I get? Hmm...okay, see, here's the thing - the second surgery, the endoscope and "booger picker" went in from a slightly different angle. See they, uh - went in through my forehead.

Seriously.

Like, the doc sliced my skin open, drilled a hole, and the equipment stuff all went in roughly an inch and a half above my eye.

Again, we knew this ahead of time. Doc told us this would be the plan, and he was quite nervous about it. Not the surgery part - the after effects. The side effects. He was really worried about the scarring, and offered to put in a referral to plastics to assess the cosmetics. I told him repeatedly not to worry - as long as it wasn't some gross, horrible bulging scar tissue, I didn't really mind. I've already found my woman, not like I need to look good for the bar scene.

But in any case, he did a *great* job. I mean stellar, amazing, wonderful. The line he cut to access the bone, he did exactly in the middle of one of my natural "furrows" or wrinkles. I mean, stellar job. I have to physically point TO the scar to show people where it is. And that was when I was one week post-surgery.

But there are still other side effects, the type you can't see. And it's all related to this scar.

See, to get in, nerves were cut. And so now I've got this amorphous blob of a numb spot above my right eye. It's difficult to pinpoint the EXACT boundaries of it, but basically, as was explained to me, the skin nerves that work the forehead come out of the orbit (eye socket) and then work up. So, from where the cut, it was normal and expected that above it there should be both numbness and, uh, lack of motor control.

But that's okay, because skin nerves heal! They just heal REALLY SLOWLY.

So now I've got this section of head that is numb. Showers feel weird, feeling my own head feels weird, having Teddy whack me with a car feels weird (if he hits the right spot).

But also - I can't move it around. If I go to raise my eyebrows, well - both eyebrows themselves actually raise. But then at the scar, everything takes a nosedive. It's weird. It's hard to describe. Oh heck, let me give you a picture:

Yes, I am aware of how awesome my hair is.

I mean, see? Both furry eyebrows are up, but then, suddenly, the wrinkles and furrows take a dive south. I can't move them. They just sit there. The rest of the forehead skin tries to pull them up, but they decided, no, they ain't gonna play that game.

There is another factor in this story as well - I now have a plate in my head. The forehead, being as thick and strong as it is, is important bone. So, unlike all the other holes they cut in my head, *this* one needed reinforcing. And because I have to be able to go into an MRI (like I did a few hours after surgery), it couldn't be a simple old steel plate. No, it has to be non-ferric, non-magnetic. And so do the screws that hold it in place.

I've got a TITANIUM plate in my head!

With TITANIUM screws!

AND YOU CAN FEEL THE PLATE THROUGH THE SKIN!!!

I've already had one friend totally freaked out by it, but had to feel it anyway, and then REALLY freaked out. She thought it was awesome. Said I ticked off an item on her bucket list, no less.

So anyway. Not too much going on. Perhaps another entry tomorrow, there are a few things to update on, but really, all's well. Overall - doing good.

With a few side effects.