My decompression

Hi all. After being diagnosed in October with a 9mm herniation and significantly altered CSF flow, I had my decompression surgery on 12/31.

Morning of surgery: I got to the hospital at 6am. Once I checked in, I had to take a pregnancy test, get wiped, wipe my entire body from jawline down with special wipes and then I changed into my gown and socks. The nurse then went over my basic history, took my blood for a blood type test, and put an IV in. After that, the anesthesiologist came to talk to me about how I was going to be position and what the process for him sedating me was going to be. Then the general nurse that would be in the room came in and just made sure everything was correct. Finally, the surgeon came in and talked to me and my partner more about the surgery and timeline and where I was going to be during surgery and waking up. She had me down for a sub occipital craniectomy with expansile duraplasty and a c1 laminectomy (based off of my two mris she was unsure whether or not she would have to preform this and my tonsils were very very close to being too low). Then I signed stuff and got rolled away to the OR.

Surgery: I got to the OR and met the 6+ people in the room. They hooked me up to a blood pressure monitor, an oximeter, a heart rate monitor, an IV bag, and they gave me an oxygen mask to breathe through. Then the anesthesiologist gave me meds and I was out before I could even count. They then gave me a breathing tube and catheter and continued with the surgery. I didn’t need the laminectomy!

Waking up: I’ve been put under a couple of times prior and both times I woke up after and didn’t think the surgery had happened yet. This was not the case this time. I woke up because I was groaning in pain. My lord was it bad. My nurse was right beside me and although I could move my body and see her, I couldn’t talk to tell her what was going on. Thankfully she was right in her assumption that water would help. I guzzled down some water because my throat wouldn’t help me form words and was in pain. She commented “oh wow no nausea”, gave me some pain medications, and then said “do you feel nauseous? You are extremely green”. And why yes I did in fact feel extremely nauseous. There weren’t enough rooms available for everyone to get a room yet, so I was line up in a hallway with probably 6 or 7 other people with a curtain dividing us. I tried to puke in the bag I had but nothing came up and it got stuck in my throat behind like an air bubble. And I was desperately trying not to throw up and gross out the people feet from me. The nurse then came and gave me some anti nausea meds that knocked me out for an hour until I was moved into my ICU room.

ICU: Upon being transferred to ICU around 2, I had an extremely difficult time transferring from the crappy bed then had me in to the ICU bed. Incredibly dizzy, and nauseous, and unsteady. The nurse had to help me tremendously. Then my lovely partner came in and the first thing I did was vomited in the bag. It was the easiest puking I have ever done. Felt like I just opened my mouth and it came out without and work from me. Then I got a new puke bag and more anti nausea and a stomach acid reducer. I had to get woken up every hour for neuro checks and I took morphine every time because my lord that was some intense pain going on in my noggin. I stayed in the ICU the rest of the 31st, all night, and in the morning I had my CT scan. Again transferring from bed to table was horrible and took like 3 minutes each time. Going back to the ICU I had more pain meds. Later, my partner came and so did PT. All I did was walk around the ICU twice. Once with a walker. And once just with PT holding onto me with a belt. I felt like a marionette. I couldn’t get my legs to move how I wanted and my heart was working so hard. Which it was no matter what. Going from lying down to standing had my heart rate jumping 80 beats per minute the first day and 1/2. Then after PT, neuro came to talk. My CT scan looked how is to be expected. The reason I’ve felt so sick is that there were pockets of air in my brain from having my dura opened. And a little bit of edema which was also to be expected. But no bleeding or anything which is great.

Normal Care Room: I was then transferred to a normal room around 2pm on 1/1 and with that came neuro checks every 4 hours instead. Nothing crazy has happened yet. The entire back of my head and neck and my scalp between my ears is numb, but the neuro on call said it’s most likely just some nerve issues which I expected. I also found out I have staples instead of stitches, and my dressing is stapled to my head. I did accidentally rip out a dressing staple in my sleep because my skin is numb and I couldn’t feel myself doing it. My head was kind of twisted. Hopefully it will be getting changed today 1/2. And hopefully I will be getting discharged today as well. My surgeon will be coming to talk at some point.

Update #1: My surgeon came and visited and said she is completely shocked that I am the same person she had in the OR just 2 days ago. I am so cheerful and bubbly and laughing and in such high spirits. She currently sees no issues with me getting discharged tomorrow. Went on a walk today around the hospital, had the walker just because the nurse felt better with me having it but I felt completely normal. PT came and talked to me after. Said they saw me walking and I was doing great, they want me to not use the walker anymore. I got my IV taken out which is an important step in getting discharged. They will not discharge if you are still taking IV medications. OT came and talked to me and was also shocked that I had brain surgery just 2 days ago. She did some neuro tests on me, checked my eyes, checked how fast I can move my hands, watched me walked, sit down and get up off of toilet, and gave me some balance tests and I passed with flying colors. She also thinks I’m good to get discharged tomorrow. I get to take my first shower tomorrow here at the hospital before getting discharged.

Update 2: I was discharged today. Pain has increased as I haven’t taken a muscle relaxers or opioids (especially because I haven’t pooped since Monday and would like to). Walking is the biggest challenge right now. I just feel so disconnected. Writing is also difficult. But still no Chiari headaches for the first time in my life!

Any questions so far? Feel free to ask!!