Thanks Linda. I will try to rest. I am not good at staying in and staying still. That will be hard for me. I am just ready for it to be over. Thanks again to you and everyone for all the support. It does help.
Linda Kindle said:
Hi, Cathy
I do wish you well and will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. I had MVD surgery 31/2 months ago and have not had any TN pain since surgery. Do plan on getting lots of rest for awhile. Take this time to enjoy being waited on, lots of movies,etc. It gets better with each day and is so worth it.
Hey everyone, this is Vic's wife....he had his MVD surgery yesterday and is at the ICU unit at USC Medical Hospital. He had a pretty good night although he has had some nausea. I'll be heading over soon. The doctor found a huge vein tangled with his nerve. If all goes well we will be heading home on Thursday. Thanks for all of your prayers and good thoughts. Will update more when I get more info......
So glad to hear he is doing well! Thanks for letting us know. I hope all that pain is gone for good! ~Suzanne~
Vic Maidhof said:
Hey everyone, this is Vic's wife....he had his MVD surgery yesterday and is at the ICU unit at USC Medical Hospital. He had a pretty good night although he has had some nausea. I'll be heading over soon. The doctor found a huge vein tangled with his nerve. If all goes well we will be heading home on Thursday. Thanks for all of your prayers and good thoughts. Will update more when I get more info......
Okay guys and gals...IT'S OVER. Got through it. Much pain the first and second daybut much better today. No TN pain that I can tell. Very naueated the first day and some on Wed. Lots of pain where he cut the muscles but that too is healing. I had a second there during my visit to ICU that I had some 2nd thoughts but is is so much better now and I'm glad to just have it over. Will continue to pray for all of those that suffer with TN. He did have to cushion a blood vessel on top of the nerve and an artery on the bottom of the Trigeminal Nerve which said was very close to the brain stem. Just blessed to have this behind me and hoping it never comes back.. My surgeon Dr. George Khoury as great! I will go back in about a week to have the staple removed. In the meantime I have to live with dirty hair...yuck...but better than pain.
Take care of yourselve and may you all find healing in the near future.
Congratulations! You are one of us veterans now - I'm so glad to see that you are feeling well enough to post. I am also glad to hear that they found some nasty vessels there, it means that you have a good chance to have this pain be gone! Please do rest easy, do not pick things up off of the floor, do not "exert pressure", and let others 'do' for you, ok? Although at this stage I probably do not have to tell you that :o) But you need to rest for the next six weeks - just keep thinking that it is just 6 weeks that you have to endure, in exchange for being free of pain. Have you seen the scar yet? It took me a while to get up the nerve :o). (haha, nerve, that's a pun)...anyway, so glad to hear from you!
He did tell me 6 weeks of recovery but I don't think I can stay put that long. I have a dressing on my incision so I haven't seen it. They changed it once in the hospital. They gave me extra dressing stuff in case I want someone to change it. I just want it off and the staples out. It really itches. I want to wash my hair. It looks and feels gross. THey also forgot to give me Diflucan while I was in the hospital and therefore I have thrush in my mouth. Also they forgot to give me Rx for a stool softener. So I will call the doctor this morning and try to get things moving in the direction of getting the bandages off. I saw my friends two days after her surgery and her incision didn't look as large. I also have some staples in my forehead. He said he did replace the skull part and he wired it back in.
Again thanks to all of your support. Judy you're right...now for the healing and a new start for a new year. Wishing everyone a painfree year.
Lily said:
Cathy,
Congratulations! You are one of us veterans now - I'm so glad to see that you are feeling well enough to post. I am also glad to hear that they found some nasty vessels there, it means that you have a good chance to have this pain be gone! Please do rest easy, do not pick things up off of the floor, do not "exert pressure", and let others 'do' for you, ok? Although at this stage I probably do not have to tell you that :o) But you need to rest for the next six weeks - just keep thinking that it is just 6 weeks that you have to endure, in exchange for being free of pain. Have you seen the scar yet? It took me a while to get up the nerve :o). (haha, nerve, that's a pun)...anyway, so glad to hear from you!
Feeling pretty rotten right now. Today is worse than yesterday for some reason. I have a lot pressure in my head and of course now I thrush since they didn't give me any Diflucan in the hospital (that I requested). Everytime I take antibiotics I get thrush if I don't take Diflucan. I took the dressing off and washed my hair. Wasn't suppose to but it was driving me nuts so I did it anyway. Haven't recovered it and wondering if I should. If anyone out there sees this and could share any info on the recovery that would be helpful. I have a headache and my neck is very sore. I am very weak too. Thanks for your input.
Sorry to hear of the bad day & thrush. Recovery is a y0-yo...you will have a good day & then can have a bad day. I'm at one month now & woke up today feeling like I'm 100 years old...LOL I didn't have staples or a bandage. I had a small strip over the incision that was removed the third day after surgery when I left the hospital. I was able to wash my hair 4 days after surgery. I had glue over the incision that eventually all came off.
Not sure if I have glue but I have 37 staples. I couldn't wait any longer to wash it. I am suffering bad with the thrush. Makes me angry because I asked for it in the hopsital.OK the Percocet has kicked in and I can barely see or type so I will try to wrie more tomorrow.
Judy Baird said:
Hi Cathy,
Sorry to hear of the bad day & thrush. Recovery is a y0-yo...you will have a good day & then can have a bad day. I'm at one month now & woke up today feeling like I'm 100 years old...LOL I didn't have staples or a bandage. I had a small strip over the incision that was removed the third day after surgery when I left the hospital. I was able to wash my hair 4 days after surgery. I had glue over the incision that eventually all came off.
Just dropping you a note to tell you how happy I am that this hurdle is behind you. I sincerely hope this brings you lasting relief from this monster!
I had my head MRI contrast and without contrast today. I hope this reveals the culprit causing my ATN and in a few months, I can get on the track to wellness, where you seem to be. I will pray the MVD has worked for you!
Hugs,
Stef
Cathy Collum said:
Okay guys and gals...IT'S OVER. Got through it. Much pain the first and second daybut much better today. No TN pain that I can tell. Very naueated the first day and some on Wed. Lots of pain where he cut the muscles but that too is healing. I had a second there during my visit to ICU that I had some 2nd thoughts but is is so much better now and I'm glad to just have it over. Will continue to pray for all of those that suffer with TN. He did have to cushion a blood vessel on top of the nerve and an artery on the bottom of the Trigeminal Nerve which said was very close to the brain stem. Just blessed to have this behind me and hoping it never comes back.. My surgeon Dr. George Khoury as great! I will go back in about a week to have the staple removed. In the meantime I have to live with dirty hair...yuck...but better than pain.
Take care of yourselve and may you all find healing in the near future.
Congratulations to you Cathy....We both had MVD's on the same day....I feel like a million bucks....no TN pain whatsoever.....Five years and six procedures to get where I am today....God Bless you and have a merry pain free Christmas...Vic in San Diego
Hi Linda, I am glad you are still doing well after your surgery. I hope all of those scheduled will have the same success. Liz
Linda Kindle said:
Hi, Cathy
I do wish you well and will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. I had MVD surgery 31/2 months ago and have not had any TN pain since surgery. Do plan on getting lots of rest for awhile. Take this time to enjoy being waited on, lots of movies,etc. It gets better with each day and is so worth it.
Vic, I am so happy you are doing well and no pain. Both you and Cathy had great success. I am praying the TN pain will be gone forever. God Bless You Both Liz
Vic Maidhof said:
Congratulations to you Cathy....We both had MVD's on the same day....I feel like a million bucks....no TN pain whatsoever.....Five years and six procedures to get where I am today....God Bless you and have a merry pain free Christmas...Vic in San Diego
Hi little Liz, You are always here to offer support for those in pain while you are also suffering...Your words have lifted me from despair many times....I am TN pain free..since I woke up from surgery I have had only a few small ticks...no awful burning shocks...thank you for praying for me..I needed all the help I could get and I was lucky to have you in my corner....Vic in San Diego
Okay...a week ago today I had MVD surgery. I cannot tell you yet whether it was successful or not. I had a lot of pain the first two days at the hospital but the day I came home (16th) I felt pretty good. Well I guess by the following morning those meds and anesthia had worn off. I have had HORRIBLE pain. THankfully it's getting where it doesn't last long. Have horrible feeling of fluid in my ear...it hurts a lot. And (as hard as this is to share) no BM yet. Taking Neurontin, Percocet, Flexeril, Diflucan and my other stuff. I sleep a lot. I will try to continue to post but for a couple of days I just couldn't. HOpefully all the pain will be gone by the next time I post. I go to the doctor tomorrow to get the staples out.
Hi Cathy...I had my MVD surgery the same day as you...it has only been 7 days...I was nauseas for two solid days but little pain...when I speak of pain I mean TN pain...The doc has me on 600 mgs of tegretol and as much ibuprofin as I need to take for headache...I have had a few minor pings..not shocks....Perhaps all the different Meds is the problem...you are taking so many types of medicine maybe there is some conflict between them ....check with your doctor about cutting down on some...good luck to you...Vic in San Diego
Thanks Vic. I am so glad your surgery was a success. I think I'll be okay....just taking a little longer. I had an artery and a blood vessel cushioned. Today the pain was bad when I first got up but better. Just feels like a lot of fluid in my ear. I think a lot of the little quick pains are from the nerve regenerating. I am still confident that this was a success. I couldn't go through it again right now for sure. I will see about getting the meds reduced some because I can't take two at a time like he wanted me to. One knockes me out cold. I am really fighting sleep right now and can hardlyy type so I will get back to you all later. Maybe after the staples are removed tomorrow.
Vic Maidhof said:
Hi Cathy...I had my MVD surgery the same day as you...it has only been 7 days...I was nauseas for two solid days but little pain...when I speak of pain I mean TN pain...The doc has me on 600 mgs of tegretol and as much ibuprofin as I need to take for headache...I have had a few minor pings..not shocks....Perhaps all the different Meds is the problem...you are taking so many types of medicine maybe there is some conflict between them ....check with your doctor about cutting down on some...good luck to you...Vic in San Diego
Hi Guys: Just updating. It will be 4 weeks Tuesday since my surgery and I haven’t been able to return to work yet. I was doing so much better for a few days last week and tried to go back to work on Friday but that didn’t happen. Something happened Thursday night. I tried to rise from my seat only to have a bad pain in my head that sat me back down immediately. Then Thursday night I couldn’t sleep…fitful night. Friday woke up with excruciating pain in my head and neck. Could not move my neck. Couldn’t get out of bed. Called my surgeon who called in some steroids and Valium (as a muscle relaxer). Today (Sunday) feeling better again but not as well as I was. Going back to the surgeon tomorrow to make sure everything is okay. The incision swells at times and then goes down. Numbness in my head only. Feels strange but thankfully no numbness anywhere but my head. Headaches come and go. I am still taking 1200 mg of Neurontin. They did not want me to totally wean off until the surgery pain is all gone. I am much better but I am so ready to feel 100% again. Hopefully the surgery was a success and I’ll be back to the grind soon. Wish I could recall the hospital visit and first week and a half at home but because of the drugs I cannot recall most of that except a lot of pain. Would I do it again…at this point I could not answer that but it’s doubtful. It’s been a rough recovery. Hoping everyone else is doing good and enjoying the new year.