I'm new to this site. I've got a couple of questions/concerns. I'm 9 days post 2nd MVD. 1st of all, I was MORE than happy to have my 2nd MVD. The first lasted 1 1/2 years...but it was such sweet relief!!! When my pain came back...as with many others....the pain was 2X as bad as original. I was in horrible pain while they prepped me for surgery and I begged them to knock me out and get on with it!!! I awoke to way less "surgical" pain than what I remembered from the first one. Now I know that's b/c I'm completely numb on my left side of head & face. I have some pain...on the back side of my incision but really not too bad. I think I've only taken 2 pain pills and 2 muscle relaxers since I came home from hospital. I don't like the numbness but at this point, I'll keep it FOREVER, for that pain not to come back.
As for the questions: I got my stitches out 3 days ago....once the nurse started clipping the stitches...I noticed a LOT of liquid draining from the incision. She said it was "normal" but she finally had to give ME gause to help her keep up with the flow. It finally stopped flowing but not for about 5 hrs. I got a terrible headache later that day, but I am better now. Another "weird" thing I've noticed is that, when I walk, I hear a rattle/clangy noise that sounds like it's coming from my nose/sinus area. Now I've discovered that if I lightly push on an area behind my incision...the noise goes away. Also, I can lightly push on that same area if I'm just sitting down and it makes a "squish" noise. I'm wondering if one or both of those noises is coming from the area of the skull bone that was taken out and replaced during surgery and if those noises are OK. Also, I don't feel like I can open my mouth as wide as normal. And when I try to bite done on something...it causes pain in the area between my upper and lower teeth...inside jaw. I go back to see surgeon next week....but I know that most people here and on the TN website know WAY more than most drs.
Contact a doctor sooner in my opinion! --- That might have been cerebrospinal fluid - especially since headache after! Unless Next week is This week don't wait! Please call them up ASAP and let them know all of what you posted.
Hi KC Dancer! I called the dr & they told me to come right in. They sent me straight to the hospital. They did surgery in the next 2 hours!!! They went back into the same spot as my MVD. There was a pinhole that was allowing the cerebrospinal fluid to leak out. They patched the hole and two days later one resident said I could go home....another dr came in an hour later and pushed on the incision and said it was "mushy". He said it could just be blood but he ordered a CT scan to be sure. Of course....it was spinal fluid!!!!! They took me down to xray to have a spinal drain put in my back. There were 5 drs and the radiologist in there with me. They tried and tried but I finally told them I couldn't take the pain anymore. He kept hitting the nerves that cause sciatica...on both legs....which I suffered with for 6 months a couple of years ago. He said he couldn't do it...he said I had stenosis of my spinal column(the opening was smaller than normal) and he couldn't thread the drain tube without possibly doing permanent to some of the nerves. SO...they don't know what they are going to do now!!! My dr is out of town and they are going to wait until he's back to decide where we go from here. I'm SO frustrated and down.
Well, I'm finally home from the hospital! They told me I would need to stay in the hospital until next Tuesday when they would take my stitches out....another week! I asked if I would just be sitting/laying around and going for walks every now & then....and they said yes....I asked why I couldn't do that at home?!?!?!? They finally agreed, only because there is a hospital only 7 miles from my house and I could get there quick if there was a problem and they could transport me to Dallas. So far, so good. I keep getting headaches but they go away when I lay down....I'm trying to lay down as soon as I feel pressure. I had a little scare yesterday....I kept leaking a little fluid out of my left nostril (the side of my TN & 2 surgeries) so I went to local ER, turned out it was just allergy drainage...I've never been so excited about SNOT...LOL Yeah, I still can't believe that a nurse in a neurosurgeons office wouldn't have known right away that I had a CSF leak when she took those stitches out! I've had more than one medical professional tell me I was extremely lucky to have survived that!!! I told them not to schedule my stitches removal appt unless it was a day my surgeon would be in the clinic!!! Thanks for your support! I pray you're having pain free days.
I had my MVD on 7/11… Started having major sinus draining on the day of my discharge, had a cat scan an was released. Today I was literally raining fluid out my nostril and also going down the back of my throat, which then caused me to vomit all day, called dr, he didn’t seem worried and said he would see me tommorow at office to remove staples. MY HEAD STILL HURTS A LOT,