I woke up that evening in ICU, since I had brain surgery that is where I had to recover. The nurses are more attentive in ICU, and they have less patients. I really don't remember what happened much that night. I know my husband came into see me, but they wouldn't let Michial into the ICU. My mom stayed with me that night. I remember being woke up every hour or so for the nurses to take my vitals and to ask me questions like if I knew where I was, what I was doing there, and what day it was.That next morning a speech therapist came in to make sure I could swallow. If I could I would be released to a regular room and I would finally be able to see my baby boy! I passed the swallow test! I drank some water and ate a graham cracker. They had to move from the bed to a wheelchair to take me to my room. I couldn't walk, and I was still drugged, so the move was interesting to say the least. They got me over to the wheelchair and I think my body didn't like all that movement because I vomited everywhere without any notice! After they got me cleaned up they began to move me to a new room. I don't remember how I got to the room, all I remember is trying to hold my head up, it was so heavy!
They at first put me in a shared room, which they really weren't supposed to, because I just had brain surgery and secondly my mom was staying with me over night and they wouldn't let her in a shared room. John wasn't staying with me, because he had to take care of Michial at night and go to work during the day. The hospital was full which is why they put me in a shared room in the first place. They finally got one cleaned out, and then they moved me, but this time they just moved the bed. I again don't really remember being moved, I just remember waking up in a different room.
I didn't have movement or feeling of the right side of my face. The doctors wasn't sure how long it would take for my facial features to return. They said that they thought it was just swelling, and said they thought it would come back at least in a few months. Since I didn't have function of the right side of my face, I couldn't close my eyelid on the right side. So I was going to have to have a small gold weight inserted into my eyelid to help me close it. The doctors were only able to get 85% of the tumor out and they said I was going to need surgery again in 3-5 months to get the the remaining tumor out. The tumor was bigger than they thought it was, it was 6cm, and Dr. Camarata said it was the largest tumor he had ever seen!
I can't recall much that happened in the next few days, its all a blur. People visited me and sent flowers and cards. I got to see my baby everyday, and that was the best part of my day! The physical therapist and occupational therapist came to visit me. The physical therapist were helping me walk again. I was going to start going to therapy twice a day. Towards the end of the week, I got one of the biggest surprises of my life. My father, who lives in Iowa and I hadn't seen for around five years came to see me. It was so great to see him! He even stayed over night with me in the hospital one night, and the other night that he was here, he stayed with John and Michial at our house. He had never seen our house before or met our dogs, and I never imagined that that would be the way he would see it.
Other family and friends came to visit me that weekend. Pastor Jerry and his wife Christy even came to see me after church that Sunday. The following Monday, August 9th, was when I was going to have the gold weight put in my eyelid. My surgery wasn't until later that evening so I had to stop eating and drinking after 11am that morning, which is really hard when your in physical therapy. This was only a short surgery, and they were moving me to the in-patient therapy floor after the surgery.
Recovery was going to be slow, but God and my family was going to be with me every step of the way!
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