Back from my surgery!!!

[Guest guest]

Hello to everyone!

I got back on Monday night from CA. I finally got to see my babies

after 10 long days.

Just thought I would add a " success " story for those of you who got

scared (like me) after reading too much negative stuff.

I went in sept 15 at 5:00 am and suprisingly I was in good spirits

and my husband was nervous. Everything went great..surgery lasted a

little longer than planned 7 hours instead of 5. I had the

craniotomy, laminectomy of c1 and duraplasty using my own tissue from

my scalp. Dr. Batzdorf also, ahead of time, had me donate 1 unit of

blood and do the cryopacipiate (glue substance made from a portion of

my own blood) to use when patching the dura as to avoid leaks and

rejection. It was good I had the blood because my count was low in

ICU and I ended up recieving it back.

I was a little swollen but had no bruising. My husband had read all

the warnings about how I could look right after surgery and he found

this not to be true in my case. I was even suprised.

I spent Friday night and Sat in ICU (mainly because of my low count)

but sat evening i was in my own room and doing great. I walked out

of the hospital on Monday morning and we stayed in the hotel the rest

of the time.

Tues. morning my husband and I walked a few blocks away for breakfast

and from then on everything got better so fast!! I got my staples out

this past Monday, 25th, 10 days post op and we drove home.

The feeling in my left foot came back immediately, I now feel both

hot and cold sensations on both sides of my neck, and i haven't had a

chiari headache...now that I'm off the pain med and muscle relaxors I

am not dizzy either. so so far so good.

Dr. Batzdorf is an incredible man and a great doctor. His resident

said that he has not had to go in and fix a leak in about 4 years!!

He said that they have a way to " test " the patch by making the

patient take deep breaths (while in surgery) to expand the lungs to

check to make sure everything is in tact and they do a few other

things as well. This made feel more confident as I was overly

concerned about having to have a second surgery for repairs. I would

urge everyone to go to a doc who has done hundreds of these

operations...it has to make such a difference.

Also, one intersting thing is that they said my tonsils were

starting to grow together and that a " membrane " was there and

begining to cover an area and they could immediately tell that

removing the membrane would increase flow. I do not have all the

details on this as i will be getting a written report from one of the

residents. But they said it was highly unusual and they took many

photos and videos of it during the surgery. They said this membrane

could not be seen on the MRI.

Anyway, I could go on and on about everything...but all is good and

my experience was great except for a few bad nurses. If anyone has

any specific questions let me know. Thank you for all the help and

support I got from you all. It's so important to get all the info

good, bad and great!!