After decompression surgery...?

6 months of work only planning on 6 weeks

You will regret that. 

 

Thanks for the tips. It's nice to know that the pain wasn't too bad. I'm dreading the nausea though, I sometimes have nausea and vomiting with my headache - that's the worst. I can deal with the pain, but not that I have one quite important trip planned (200km) 2 weeks post op. I haven't cancelled it yet, cause I hope I 'll be able to go. I guess I'll simply have to adjust everything according to how I'll feel.

Get your prescription for the nausea meds before surgery. It is really painful to puke or have drive heaves cause you haven't kept anything down. SERIOUSLY!!! Then you'll probably be ok. I got all my meds from my GP as my NS was generally "too busy" to bother to prescribe anything....  I wasn't sure I'd be able to go on my trip to the wedding either, but after 3 weeks I got bored. I managed to get around pretty well, just really slowly. It takes awhile for your legs to get strong again.  Even though they weren't operated on. Make sure you are blowing into your lung blowing thing (can't recall what it is called- but you blow into it to help your lungs to help after surgery)  Not sure if you'll feel like doing much then. You have to get weaned off the painkillers first of all. So if you are still having pain- who knows!  

In hospital- you can't eat alot at first cause of the endotracheal tube being down your throat- order soft foods or pudding or apple sauce. First time I tried to eat chicken, I couldn't do it. I was in hospital 4 1/2 days. Some people take longer though. 

Maybe ?cant be any worse than today or tomorrow

My NS too said if everything's going to go as planned then I should be out of the hospital in 4-5 days. Sounds odd, you know such a short hospital stay after brain surgery, but then again-if everything's fine, why stay any longer.

Thank you! Best of luck to you too.

You know, life hasn't given us the best cards, but we can still play I'm trying to stay positive, sometimes it's hard, but I think it helps.

I like to blame every single illness and disorder I've ever had/have on Chiari. Too bad I didn't find out about it sooner!! I'm popping 16 pills a day on other problems that were likely a result of Chairi. Better late than never!! Good Luck and take it easy!!

Thanks, I certainly will take it easy for as long as I'll need to. Yesterday was a good reminder why I'm having the surgery.

It was one of the bad days. It started with dull pain between my shoulder blades in the morning, and by 3PM a headache started. It wasn't that long - 6 or 7 hours, but it certainly was really bad, one of those times when getting up from the couch takes all the willpower I have not to mention how far away the bathroom suddenly seems. I was thankful I'm on Lyrica because I know my headache - this would have been one of the pain episodes with nausea and vomiting. Lyrica took that away. (I haven't had any of that since I'm on this medication.)

Excellent!!! So glad to hear it is going well!!!!  Try not to rush things and enjoy as much rest time as you can get in the hospital. When you leave, there is generally no one to take care of you, which is a rude awakening. My mother-in-law stayed with me the first day, which was depressing. But I manage to get her hooked on Devious Maids, so worthwhile!

Take some anti-nausea drugs so you feel less nauseous!!! They make a world of difference!

I really enjoyed that little pain pushbutton!! It's great. You are probably on something very strong, like fentanyl. It's one of my favs!! Keep an ice pack on your neck!! 

Keep us posted!

Hi! Thanks. I can't use ice packs or anything similar. My NS discovered that there was larger space between my occipital bone and C1 vertebrae, it creates additional craniocervical instability. I have to wear neck orthosis-California collar for a month or so at least 12 hours a day. It is so uncomfortable, I can't even start to describe. :D But it feels like it's helping. For example if I move my head, and it hurts, I know the collar won't let me continiue the movement. It stops me from hurting myself unknowingly.

Oh well that is good! No need to move your head anyway. I haven't moved mine for years. You just move the entire body- you get to exercise the rest of your body!!! 

 

Well, it helps, but I hate the thing for it creates such discomfort.

I can imagine!! Do you ever feel life just sucks!! And then people tell you to look at all your positives. Just the other day my spouse of 33 years told me how sick he is of my Brain thing!! The positive side of that is that there are now two of us who are sick of it!!

Hi madara did you have your tonsils shrunk aswell

Oh, wow, that was mean from your spouse! I feel soory for you. I'm rather quick-tempered, I can imagine what sort of argument I would have made out of the whole situation. You know-noone of us asked for this. We were born like that! I admire your ability to see the bright side. That thought wouldnt even cross my mind in the heat of an argument! I have always considered myself a realistic person, but I guess I should incorporate a bit more optimism into the way I see life.

Hi Gary! I think no. Prior to surgery we discussed only removal of occipital bone, c1, possibly c2 laminectomy and opening the dura. My NS said there was no need to perform c2 laminectomy and he didn't mention shrinking the tonsils. He said my tonsils were positioned assymetrically, the left one was lower and pressed on medulla more than the right one, that's why I always had more pronounced pain on the left side of the head and the tingling was more often on the left hand and foot.

I'm so depressed. I got a speeding tickets this morning going to my sleep apnea appt. I just want to drive off a cliff. It's bad enough having an unrelenting rare disorder that no one understands and on top of that having a spouse who is sick of it. Then they claimed in the ticket I wasn't wearing a seat-belt, which I was and unhooked it after I was stopped. (RANCID SPEED TRAP!!) But on top of it I can't get any information online or on the phone about the cost of it or about the seat belt thing and the policeman said I was going 55 in a 50 mph zone and on the ticket it says 67??? I am soooo depressed!!!!

Going to go overdose on hydrocodone. 

Ok just ignore the last post- I am going to put that whole thing aside per my daughter's instructions and I can't figure out how to delete it. So please ignore. Probably ok to get mad at stuff now and then. 

Did they do a dura patch over the opening? My doctor did. He also cauterized the tonsils which were also asymetrical- left side 4 cm and right side 8 cm. Right side was blocking the CSF flow. Is there a way to cushion the orthostatic collar? with some pillows or something?  

I'm not sure about the dura patch, but right before passing out from anesthesia I heard my NS talking to another doctor that he was planning to cover the dura or smth.similar.

About that collar-it comes with a pair of white soft "socks" if you may. Basically it's a tube of elastic soft cloth, you ought to put it over your head first, then you put the collar on and then you fold the the outer part of the sock over the collar. It's not that the collar itself creates discomfort, there isnt any rough edges or anything, but it's just the restriction it causes.

Then again - I took my collar off at 8PM last night, the doctor said I can sleep without it, and I somehow managed to sleep until 2AM due to a sleeping pill. When I woke up at night, I felt every tiniest muscle on my neck, because now they had to keep my head still instead of the collar. The collar really provides great support. I'm starting to feel rather happy I have it.

Madara how are you doing now ?