Why live with this disease for so long without getting a more permanent fix?

Okay, so one week ago, March 4, I went in for my VNS surgery. I finally got into the OR at around noon at Madigan Army Medical Center. I don't remember anything until Friday, but according to nurses and my wife I had problems with waking up after surgery, they had to take a CT scan just to make sure that everything was okay. They also told me that I was speaking Russian (I was trying to teach myself before surgery) and that I kept telling the nurses that they were the bomb. At least they had some fun with me. So early Friday morning I got moved from ICU to a regular room and I was still pretty out of things. Later that day a rehab nurse came in and started me walking around a bit. I am not really sure how long I am supposed to be using a walker but moving around is still difficult and I still get light-headed and dizzy. Did I mention that I have not had any vertigo since the surgery?? I just have to do some exercises with my eyes, moving them up and down and side to side in straight lines. After next week, I will start going to rehab and learning to walk again. Hopefully I will be able to do things like a normal person again.

I am still doped up pretty good with Percoset every six hours and my head looks like the Frankenstein monster. I'll add a photo if people want to see, it is kind of grusome. But the good thing is that after I finish healing and relearning to do things again, that this is the end of my bad times with Meniere's. I will be going to have my staples and sutchers removed tomorrow, hopefully everything has healed enough for that. I still have tinnitus, and a lot of pressure in my bad ear, but I think that the pressure is because of the surgery. I have no feeling in the left side of my tongue, from the bottom of my lips all the way up to my Titanium plate. I don't have much of a taste for anything because everything is numb. hopefully that will change as well.

I will keep posting updates when I am feeling up to it, thanks to everyone that kept me in thoughts.

 

Thanks for the update. It sounds like you're doing well, especially if there is NO vertigo. Take it easy and be patient.

 

Good luck, Jaemax! They gave me those eye exercises after my laby and I found it helped more if I moved my head up and down, back and forth, along with my eyes. I did both actually. I found the more I moved, the more progress I sensed so I stepped it up. BUT I rested too, I think you'll know what to do. Heal well! Lisa

 

Sounds like a good start to hopefully a great recovery. WIll be anxious to hear from you. Paige

 

Great news!! I hope you continue on your path to a well-balanced future.

Joe

 

Lisa, how much feeling did you have on your head after the laby, I am still experiencing numbness from the surgical area (normal in my opinion) and then from my temple all the way down to my lower chin on the left side and the left side of my tongue is numb too. Did you have any of this and if so how long did it take before it came back.

Joseph

 

Joseph, what approach did they use? Was it middle fossa? It reminds me of the surgery I had for acoustic neuroma. You should tell the surgeon you have numbness in the tongue as well as surgical area. I had this to some extent. I believe it means the 5th cranial nerve may have had some injury. Be careful when you eat or you may swallow something without realizing it and choke a little. For me this improved gradually, I still have a tiny bit of numbness at the base of the chin on the surgery side. The numbness on the tongue is not 'normal' I don't think, though like mine it may get better. Tell your doctor and make sure he knows the tongue is involved too.

Glad you have no vertigo! As soon as they ok you to walk with a walker, cane, whatever, find a safe place and walk as much as you can. That's what got my balance back and what aided healing as well according to the nurse. Glad you are getting the staples out, that will make you feel better I think. Keep us posted.

 

The numbness will fade over time. 3 years later, the incision from my hairline to the spot above the ear where they went in, is still numb. It's about 4-5 inches long.... 1 "numb" line up the side of my head. Over time it went from inches on either side of the incision, to basically the incision itself. The numbness on the chin and tongue is from when they numbed it all. It went away over a week or so.....

The nausea will go away within a week or so. First 2 days were a killer.......

The balance, walking "wide", coordination, return over time. Depends on your body and how much you work it.......

Bob

 

Get a treadmill. "work it baby"......the first week, I could walk, holding both sides.....2nd week I could walk, holding just to catch myself. Third or so week I could walk fast......6-7th week, jog.....without falling......just be patient, work it as much as you can stand......

 

Hi, I had no numbness from my incision with the laby. With my sac surgery, I had some but just around the incision site that did get better. I think it's worth a call to the doctor.
Lisa

 

When I have to rehabilitate, I want you as my coach. Just reading this post makes me want to get on an elliptical and tear it up!

Speaking of, did you ever try ellipticals while rehabilitating, or where they too weird for your recovering vestibular system?

 

Thanks for everyones input, I went in on Friday to have all the staples and sutchers removed. Riding in a car is quite sickening, luckily it was a short ride. It hurt a bit when they removed everything and only bled a little in a couple of spots. Even though I was there for several hours the entire procedure only lasted about twenty minutes.

I all still having a lot of pain from the trauma to the nerves during surgery, I hope thatyou are right that it will get better with time. I have a walker that I use to get around my house and I do laps several times a day as long as I am feeling up to moving. This coming week I will start going to rehab again and hope that will help things get better faster. Luckily I am on convelesent leave from the Navy so I have time to get better, hopefully this will allow me to stay until I can retire.

My wife has just been outstanding at the support that she has given me during all of this. I plan to do something really nice for her when I get better. I couldn't have survived any of this without her love and support.

 

Keep the faith jaemax. When I had an surgery the first week was awful, couldn't even sit or walk unassisted at first. The first car ride the horizon bounced all around. I kind of ricocheted from one wall to the other walking down the hall. The key for me was walking A WHOLE LOT. I started with a walker in the house, then cane outdoors and I am sure I looked like a drunk or otherwise disabled person. I related strongly to 80 year olds as I went about my daily routine. But I was back to work part time in less than 2 months though it was very fatiguing. I was back to the gym in a small way in 3 months. Now my balance is better than most people my age. I think yours will be too. Just keep challenging it in a safe environment day after day. Do you see improvement every day even though you are not anywhere near normal?

 

I agree with June...........the first two weeks I saw a big improvement, but was not myself. At five weeks I felt great, but I do think I had an easier recovery. You may reach a point when you feel that you are much improved but could be better, but then it will keep getting better. Lisa

 

P.S. that is so nice to say that about your wife......my husband was the same.

 

Jenny, I start my rehab next week and the guy that I see I have been to before and he works with ellipticals and treadmills. So I will let you know how things go with that.

Post VNS update: two weeks after the surgery and I still have nausea when I move around, so far nooooooooo vertigo, still have tinnitus and fullness and some hearing loss indicating an attack but no vertigo, yeah. I am still doing eye exercises and head exercises, and walk around my house with a walker as much as I can handle. All in all I think that the surgery was a huge success so far.

I will update more at a later date.

 

Congrats on the nooooooo vertigo!!

That's great that you're on your road to recovery. It sounds like you're really motivated to get back to normal as soon as you can. I'm sure you'll do it.

Joe

 

thanks jaemax for your update and please keep it coming. I'm looking at VNS surgery in a couple of weeks and it's good to know that your surgery was successful. I can only look forward to no more veritgo, especially no more in the middle of the night. Maybe I'll get my life back instead of pushing to try and go to work, missing work because of night vertigo, coming home and laying on the sofa...........this is no life. Continue to heal and keep us informed.
Taz

 

Thanks for all of the personal accounts of the various procedures. This has been greatly informative and supports my decision to proceed with the laby on Tues 3/24. I have only scheduled to be off work for 5 days - I hope it is enough. Good luck Jaemax with your continued improvement.

 

Bump............. so I can read later.