Post Op Day 29...Doctor Visit...

Post op day 29
How do I feel?
Feel great today.  Excited to go to doctor appointment  with Dr Shandi. He is suppose to release me to full activities today.Tomorrow will be 30 days since my surgery.
Most people that see me say I look great. I found out that most people are expecting to see scars or bruising.
7am
Up.Tired... where is my coffee. Bernie tries to make it this am but with the keurig  machine. He can not get it going. So, I help him out.  I guess since I stopped taking the steroids I am not longer up at 4am.  The seizure meds keppra  500mg I take at night give me a morning feeling of drowsiness which from what I have read effects most people. Thank God I have little side effects from Keppra. But always seems to be a bit of sleepiness present throughout the day.
At least the skin rash itching has gone away caused by Keppra  anti-epileptic medication.   Headaches have gone away. The headaches come back when I wear my wig too long.  I tolerate the medicine Keppra quite well.  Just minor things. Neck pain, drowsiness.
8am
Bernie went to gym and I got on treadmill in my bedroom and walked for 1 hour.6800 steps.
3:45pm Doctor's appointment.
He looked at scar and said Jocelyn was doing extremely well. She asked questions to Dr.:
Can you reduce medication due to a.m. grogginess? He reduced to 200mg of Keppra due to Jocelyn never having seizures in her past.



Why do people keep telling her how well she looks? What do they expect? He said,"They expect
bruising, facial scars and a bald head." So...final prognosis is the tumor was totally removed. In
4 months, return for MRI and follow-up psychological testing.
Final moments with Doctor. Everyone hugged and Jocelyn thanked him, Bernie thanked him, etc.
Doctor was worried that Jocelyn would lose her sense of smell during surgery since tumor was at frontal lobe. However, Jocelyn can smell Bernie's cologne in the morning. It's labeled "wild country." So, success!

Saturday_Sept._1_2012_Post op day 11

Post op day 11

How do you feel???
 Able to stand without holding on.  Staples in head pulling on bandages. Okay. Level 2 dull ache.   
Txting is easy.   Writing is shaky.  Slow moving hand as I write on paper.   

Up at 4 good  sleep escapes me.  Got up and worked in office taking  care of some personal things I had put off.  Ended up looking for something never found it but 
Got inbox straightened out so I could work on most important paper work items.  Glad I felt like working.
6 am paper is late.  7 am bernie up got my coffee and he left for gym at 7:30am.  
8 am took.  Drugs below every 12 hours
Drugs i am on below.   A friend paraphrased drugs below.  Thanks Kathleen .
Dex is a potent anti-inflamatory. Lev is an anti-convulsant. Panto is for gastro/heartburn. All are very potent.  
9 bernie  brought  breakfast in bed .  Oatmeal blueberries ..almond butter.  Green tea.  Bernie has been unbelievable loving and patience. 
10.   Took a bath by myself today .   Yeh.
11 watching golf Deutsch bank PGA golf tournament. 
12:30
Bernie took me out of the house for 1 st time in 11 days . Little shaky but out 3 hrs did well.
3:30 watched golf match
6 pm dinner last overs . 
7 pmFSU football game .   Watching on iPad on espn3 app.  FSU vs Murray St.  Murray st 3 FSU 35 3rd quarter 1st and 10.   Head hurts.  From 1 to 10 they would ask me at hospital.  3 maybe.  Tylenol is all I take.   I was told by my friend Janet that what is hurting is the bandage on my head pulling the staples holding it together.  Ha ...
8pm meds
9pm
Reading Richmond paper from cover to cover. Good for new brain.  Hey how many people can say they have a new  brain.  
11 pm .  Reading new book on iPad . 
12 midnight.   Pray    
Sleep

Friday, August 31_2012_Post op 10

Post op 10Friday August 31, 2012How do you feel today!
Good with a sunny disposition.   Borrowed from a commercial but good explanation don't you think? 

Feeling  drugs side effects. Which are...
Difficulty sleeping; feeling a whirling motion; sweating;  nervousness, rash; hives; Caffeine high why am I drinking coffee.  I like coffee with my chocolate soy milk.

 When people talk to me on the phone they say it is good to hear my strong  voice.  That strong voice is a sign for me that I feel better .

Friend over helping me update blog.  I enjoy that.  Watching golf tournament .  Bernie just walked over to Kroger for lunch.   Sharon our trusty maid came today she had to do laundry.  But glad it is all done.  Jane Asch, Bernie's daughter  called today. Her dog Sammy of 14 yrs died this pass weekend.  So long Sammy.  
Cathy stark a friend that bernie and i met at the y more than 15 yrs ago moved to Michigan where she grew up and came back to visit and brought dinner .  Set up for 2 hours and felt okay... Was ready to lay down.  My head feels better when I sit up then lie down..Jamie the nurse practitioner  told me that your head pulses and when you lie down it pulses more...So i sit up at a 30 degree angle in bed propped  and try to sleep... 

Thursday, August 30_Post op Day 9

Up at 5 made my own coffee.  Slept ok.  Took Tylenol
Around 3.    
Turned on tv to watch hurricane at 5 . 
 Took dexametbasone   and pantoprazole generic for protonix.  
 Only every 12 hours now instead of every 8. 
 Ok what are these drugs and how are they making me feel.   Let me count the ways.   I will now look up the drugs and see...
Dex-a--METH-a-sone 
    A potent synthetic steroid drug.   The directions on taking the drug were not easily understood.  But bernie and I figured it out and I set a reminder on my iPhone in my calendar when to take .  You want to know how powerful this steroid drug is.   Being at home i take it orally, it is 26.6 times more potent than   Naturally occurring hormone cortisol and 6.6 times more potent than prednisone . 
 Symptons:   Of drug. 
    Difficulty sleeping...feeling of a whirling motion; increased sweating ,  rash and itch on my lower back.  
Pantoprazole 
Pan TOE pra zole 
 Generic name:  Protonix
what is pantoprazole ?
  Proton pump inhibitors. It decreases the amount of acid produced in the stomach.  

Question.   Why do I need this drug when I take Dex-a--METH-a-sone?


When I was taking this drug in the hospital I would have abnormal dreams.  I even remember telling my night nurse one night.   It was a wonderful  colorful real dream .   A large home that had history to it.  A place in my dream where I lived and in the dream had come back to the property after I had inherited the home.  If was once a place for large swim meets and swim conferences .  The dream was so vivid and real .  The first part of the dream I remember was I was in the living quarters of this home .  This home was like our friends home in the hamptons of new York .  Modern stone beautiful landscaped .  In the dream the dream the home was in disrepair .  My parents had just died and I was there to get the affairs in order and  visit the staff that still lived on the property down by the old outdoor stone rock pool.   The property also reminded me of the property I went to for a wedding in new York in June of this year.   Lilys flowing water over rock quarrys. The staff and there families were still living down near the river off the outdoor pool.   The  Vision I remember was of a happy yet poor family Irish decent.   I remember one man the property manager from my childhood.  You see I could. Not remember if Ivied there a year long or just In the summer As if a summer camp I was so fond of in the addrockitis of new York that I went to as a child.  In my dream I was getting ready for bed and remember seeing the lights of a car drive up to the front door.  The home being off a main road and with it in such disarray that young people  I was told would drive there often and park.  I remember being afraid so I went looked out of the 10 ft high glass plated wall with a view that expanded 4000 square feet long.   The curtains that covered it were old damp and musty.  Something I thought later I would have to change.  

Brst just finished.  Bernie went to gym came back and made oatmeal for me w blueberries and left over banana from hospital .   Green tea.   Biggest challenge of am so far putting on left contact so I can see far and read tv captions clearly.   The decline of My left eye had been one of the symptoms of the brain tumor.    

Just walked 91 steps.  
Since Bernie and I will still be in Florida on  the day of the general election I just printed off And we filled out our absentee ballot info.  
Just spoke with Anita up on the 12 floor coming to see 
Me today.   Bernie and I last year with with Anita and Louis her husband to Barcelona Spain for 2 wks.   
People say sound good but still fill drugged from meds.   Head dull pain where staples are.   

Monday, Sept. 3, 2012, Post-op, Day 13

Monday, How do you feel?

4:30 am
Let me count the ways. Same as yesterday . Physically still dull ache but only from 1-10, a 2. Maybe I did sleep better even though it was a full moon last night.
5 am
Worked in office.
Walked 90 steps to end of hall and mailed a letter.
Did not have to hold on to walls.
Starting reading get well cards and starting balling crying. First time. Tears of joy.
7am
Raining outside today. Glad I can see out our large picture window in bedroom. I am looking out at the corner of Willow Lawn and Monument Avenue. There isn't a lot of traffic since Sunday and holiday weekend.
Bernie helped me change water in plant vases.
Bernie went to gym. I do miss gym BUT I will be back at it soon. In bed again with Sunday paper.
8am
Medicines taken, plus Tylenol.
8:30am
Bernie home from gym. He is now resting in his chair. It is nice enjoying this quiet time with Bernie. I don't get a lot of quiet time with Bernie, if you know him you are probably laughing now .
8:45am
I hear him in the kitchen putting the dishes away in the dishwasher . I started the diwasher and he puts the stuff away as I can not yet lift or bend over. Think of it. How many times a day do you bend over? I now go to my knees pick up something and then pull up.Today I tried and was successful at standing up without assistance. Progress!
9am
Breakfast in bed.
10am
Walked 180 steps to the end of hall to laundry room where their is a restroom. Walked back. Head clear. Walked great. Time to make sure Bernie took his heart meds.
10:00-1:00 pm
Worked on an office project I have been working on for 2 yrs
1pm
Louis came to ask me for help with his new kindle fire.
Debbie and Walter  Guarde came to visit and we all went out to eat at Yum Yum. Bernie's favorite place.
5:45
Talked to Joy Cobb. Last year this time, Joy and I were training for Richmond half marathon in November. Did not sign up this year. We will be in Florida anyway Nov 12 .
Headache now. Tylenol. Laying down watching golf.
My sense of taste for tap water has changed. Taste is stale. My sense of smell is sharper. Smells musty in lobby of condo. I am going to replace all cleaning chemicals with natural products.
6-9pm
Golf over. watching Property Brothers on HGTV channel .
9pm 
Sleep.

August 28-7 Days After Surgery

Emotional Recovery is as important as physical recovery. Reasons for Jocelyn's good emotional
recovery: 1) Being told initially she had a benign brain tumor by Dr. Mike Armstrong, 2) Having
Bernie's Daughter in Richmond,VA and Googling her diagnoses, 3)Listening to the diagnosis over from Jocelyn's IPhone and hearing from the doctor tumor is BENIGN, 4)Having a Godlike
Surgeon, Dr. Sahni, and a friend, Janet Goode, who knew Dr. Sahni well and use to work for
him for 7 years as a RN, 5)Friends, Best Friends, praying, supporting and knowing they really
care for me and feel the pain I am going through emotionally.

Jocelyn's Brain Tumor Prognosis Information

Meningiomas make up about 20 percent of all brain tumors. A meningioma is a type of tumor that develops in the meninges, the protective membranes that cover the brain and the spinal cord. Most meningiomas are non-aggressive, or benign, although up to 5 percent are aggressive, or malignant. Benign meningiomas are slow-growing and do not invade surrounding tissue or spread to other parts of the body, but they often require surgery, because they compress adjacent brain tissue as they grow.


Prognosis
Meningiomas fortunately carry an excellent prognosis--complete recovery usually occurs within a few months.

Initial symptoms

indicating the growth of a frontal lobe brain tumor can be difficult to notice. However, over time noticeable symptoms such as seizures and frequent urination will begin to develop. It is important to stay vigilant if someone you know displays these outward symptoms or others, such as personality change and mood swings, as they may not be readily acknowledged by the person