Goooood morning Vietnam.... :) My brainstem surgery update

I am doing great. I am being discharge from inpatient rehab tomorrow and going home for outpatient therapy!! I can walk without any assistance now and physically am doing better than any ohter brainstem surgery they ever saw. it makes me feel very weird to beingn told that every day. I anticipated such a longer and harder recovery...
physically im doing great. Mentally i have short term memory below average on people who never had brain injuries and average for people who have, I have a complete vision change witch has been the hardest deficit so far and we dont know yet if my dizziness is from that or not. I am having a hard time with fine motor skills . i have no paralysis except my right optic nerve which should heal itself over time. I alternate a eye patch because both eyes have their own agenda. haha i cant use them both at the same time but i do just fine one at a time. I cant write (handwriting) but with therapy it should come back :) my deficit are so minimal, compared to what i have heard from others. My left side is as strong as my right after only 2 weeks post op... no more numbeness. When i woke up from surgery, i was numb everywhere and couldnt moved but as soon as 2 days later i was fine. It was almost spooky... The therapist here told me they never seen such a quick physical recovery after brainstem surgery Dr. Spetzler is amazing and 95% of his patients come back to before or better within one year or surgery. He is amazing.... he has invented a method for brainstem surgery that has made it very operable (for him anyway) He is currently training neurosurgeon to take after him as he is 70 years old.
I feel incredibly blessed and even guilty that my surgery was such a sucess... They want to use me as a example of sucessful brainstem surgery... I had the surgery march 1. was kept sedated (for pain that i dont even remmember) for 2 days, and was sent to inpatient therapy and toorrow will be 2 weeks since surgery and i am free to go home. I need oupatient speech, vision, balance, fine motors skills therapy, but nothing major! I really expected and was ready for so much more... it breaks my heart to see what others went thru and still are and here i am 2 weeks post op and im doing so well.. i feel very torn about that. i kknow i shoulnd but i do

Wonder to hear you're doing so well and you get to go home soon! I know how you feel though. I was also another one of those "miracle" patients. I recovered faster than any of my medical staff expected. (My AVM wasn't in my brainstem, by the way but a different part of my brain) I remember feeling excited to go home after nearly 3 months in the hospital but I was leaving before a lot of other brain injury patients (no other AVMers) who I'd befriended during the month I was in rehab. I felt a bit guilty too. They all wished me well and were happy for me but I wished some of them could also go home. I was far better off than some of them, even with my many defecits. It's to your credit that you're recovered so quickly. Try not to feel guilty. Feel inspired to keep getting better and stronger! I urge you to continue coming to this site. You can be a inspiration to many others and a great source of information as well!

I love your posting, so Good Morning back at ya. You and your family are such warriors. Wow nothing holding you back now. Let'er buck as we say out here in the country.

No guilt necessary, dandelionwishes, we love success stories here -- they provide much-needed hope to others. When you are fully recovered, perhaps you can counsel other members with brainstem AVMs.

BIG CONGRATS & Cheers on your amazing progress!!!
I'm sooooo happy & relieved your surgery is behind you.
Keep up the hard & persistent work & in between your efforts, don't forget to rest & allow your brain to heal. :)
Best wishes!

Congrats on such successful surgery!

Never feel down that your situation is turning out well. Telling an uplifting story is beneficial to many here, even if they aren't there yet, or might not get there.

A new beginning for you. Enjoy yourself.

Ron, KS

Super Hurrah!

Congrats!

I'm so happy for you Dandelion. I have had successful surgery and "survivor's guilt" myself. It took me awhile to get over that but people with AVMs are allowed to be success stories, just like with other illnesses. You are one inspiration!!