Got a date for surgery!

Having a medicinal whisky as I type!!!
Got ‘the call’ today. Was originally told to expect surgery in April. But have been told that my pre med is next Wednesday & my embolisation & craniotomy is the 23rd of MARCH!!! Eeeeeeek!
And breatheeeeeee.

Any post surgery people out there give me any pointers as to stuff I may need to make my recovery more comfortable?
I have a wedge pillow and V shaped pillow as recommended by someone…but is there anything else I may need?

Huge thanks in advance,

Jane x

I have heard a great deal of folks were very happy to have noise cancelling head phones and, if you're not sensitive to the smell, a lavender eye pillow. There will be survivors with more info who come along soon. Best of luck on the 23rd. Stay strong!

yes, you need faith, most of all, positive thoughts, I had mine removed in 2011 by crainotomy. I had no clue what had happened to me till I woke up in the hospital. Never knew I had one or a blood clot, Please try to stay positive and hold on to your faith. Prayers are with you.

Dear ChopsieGirl,

First, enjoy your whisky.Here is a link listing its many health benefits!
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/whiskey-is-healthy.html

Second, put your worries away! You are not performing the surgery. They have trained professionals who really know what they are doing who will be fixing you up as good as new!

After surgery, do whatever they tell you.Treat yourself well. Go slowly and celebrate every improvement! I wish you all the best. Let us know how you are doing! Chin up.You can do this!
Donna

Glad you have a date for surgery, even thought it's earlier than expected. Said a prayer for your surgery.

Take care,
Debbie

I don't have experience with craniotomy, my daughter had Gamma Knife.But I agree with what others have said - stay positive, have faith, and be very gentle with yourself. The exciting news is that your full recovery is even sooner than expected now! I pray that every surgeon, doctor, nurse and everyone that is involved with your care be Divinely Guided and that every cell in your body return to Perfect Health! God Speed!

I can tell you from my experience that it is very easy to become overwhelmed by noise, light, and stimulation in general. If they let you have an iPod or something so you can zone out when you want that will help. Best of luck to you.

As a 37 yr+ AVM survivor of 2 craniotomies and a cerebral hemorrhage. I can tell you that you might benefit from low light, silence, and plenty of rest. Just put the armor of God on and go for it! :slight_smile: Please keep in touch and let us know how you are doing… You got this girl! <3 in AVM’s sisterhood. BTW, I went on to become a foreign linguist, and have 2 children at the age of 38 and 42. Certainly hope this puts a smile on your face to know that you can do anything with God. I will be praying for you. Like my mom told me when I went into surgery….Give them hell honey! :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

The big thing for me was moving around. As you will see the doctors are going to want you up the next day walking around. I made it a point to get up an do a walk every 4 hours in the beginning and slowly made the walks longer and more frequent.

When I got home after a there weeks I began to walk the dog twice a day. I will tell you that my dog was a happy camper since both my wife and I workwork and He did not get that much attention before.

I would say be active but listen to your body…Just an FYI I was back at work after 6 weeks… I had 2 days of embolization surgery and the 3rd was the crainiotomy.

Finally everyone is different, but stay positive, everything will be fine…I will send a prayer your way in the 23.Please keep us updated

You’ve been given great advise.

The only advise I can add is to stay strong & positive. You will be in my thoughts and prayers on March 23rd!

Hi Jane, The only advice I can give after 2 craniotomies is sleep when you can even if this means during the day or afternoon or even when people come to visit, As sleep is the best thing for recovery in my opinion. Also please remember small steps :) , So take it easy. Try not to worry and remember these surgeons are the best at what they do !, They do this every day and I'm sure it will all go well for you, Please let us know when you can of course how it all goes. Take care and don't worry or at least try not to :) .

That's about how much warning I had before my craniotomy - it's intense, no? I know just how you feel!

Good call on the pillows - they were tremendously helpful for me and I still use them even now (4 months post-crani) because I loved them so much. The other thing I'd recommend is loading yourself up with as much good quality protein and iron as you can. It's so important to help facilitate healing and negate any effects of blood loss. Make sure you have a care team in place to help you manage after and transition home. If you're interested, I wrote a blog post with a few brain surgery tips based on my personal experience.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions. Brain surgery is a big thing to have to face and I wish you all the very best!

Bring in positive vibes and be strong. … and music:) thinking of you and sending you healing thoughts.

I had a similar short notice for my craniotomy and I was grateful to get it done soon.

From my experience have things lined up before you return home. If possible have your caregiver get prescriptions ASAP - my wife had problems and needing meds right away without help from the drug store is not fun. Focus on things to address your safety (walking and bathing equipment), your comfort and finding peace and quiet. I used a heat pad for a while which seemed to help; then I switched to an ice pack. Also have some way to communicate with a nurse - email in my case so I could ask lots of questions since everything will be new and changing with time. If you can eliminate any non-essential activities around your home do so- they less activity and noise the better.

Hi Jane!!

I can't add much to what everyone has said except maybe to expect to be tired and get tired easily. I would say this lasted at least 6 months for me. Also nice if you have someone to be your 'gatekeeper'. It was difficult for me to tell people that sorry, I didn't want any company and also someone to let all your family and friends know how you are doing. Maybe that was just me (naturally a bit of a introvert) but it was a relief. Of course it was 12 years ago and well before Facebook and smartphones, LOL!

I wish you the very best!! You have all of us rooting for you!!

Hi! Don’t worry about it. I had embolisation done on my right frontal 2 years ago, it didnt go away 100% but last month I had open craniotomy surgery done and now I’m free from it! Post op rule number 1 : REST REST REST! I had csf leak from the craniotomy and had it redone last week. Make sure you have more than enough rest for at least 1 month. Other than that, its all good. Trust me, it sounds scarier than it actually is. Goodluck and all the best!!!

1 Like

Hiya! the best thing you can do is relax, don’t panic and try and have the most posititive attitude you can muster! You will be fine and afterwards you will wonder what you were so worried about.
However, you will not feel quite yourself post op-not for long-but you are likely to go through a rollercoaster of emotions that friends and family wont understand-when that happens come back here!! And youll see that you are perfectly fine, it happens to everyone and it will pass. personally I found the first couple of weeks really dragged, but the time seemed to speed up-one minute its only been 17 days since surgery…next thing its 3 months ago and Im on here giving the same advice i got myself 3 months ago!
I can only repear what others say about rest, you will be exhausted, sleep when you need to, eat when you need to, and dont expect too much too soon, your body is amazing-it can get through this-but you have to help it out a bit-apart from that just make sure you have planty of dvds, magazines, books etc and enjoy the break!!
Best of luck and do come back here whenever you feel the need xxx

1 Like

Absolutely agree with Jade. Your attitude going into surgery is probably one of the most important parts of it all!:-) :-) :-)

The best things you need is faith & positivity! God bless!

1 Like

Wishing you all the best for the 23rd, keep us up-dated.
Lots of love
xxxxxx