I know I know….I have not updated the blog for quite some time.
As you have all probably assumed, things have been a bit busy since Tracy got home. He has been in quite a lot of pain and the largest part of it seems to be his side (remember that huge welt.) Apparently the muscles have gone dead and it will take some time before they fully recover. He has been doing some stretches and massaging that area to help the process of getting things working again. The biggest worry we have had is the swelling he is having in his brain.
We assumed when the area around the incision started swelling, it was not good. We thought this because they wanted to make sure he had NO swelling before they would discharge him from the hospital. The swelling was very mild when he was up and moving around but when he would lay down for naps or go to bed at night he would wake up with a huge bubble along the incision. When we would touch it, it felt like fluid was behind the skin. It was very very weird. Plus his eyes were shaking back and forth again like before and he was have a lot of pressure. So, of course, we called the doctor.
We spoke to the nurse and she said she would talk to the doc about his symptoms. They called us back and made an appointment for him to have a CT and then we saw the doctor after. We had to do this on the day of one of the worst snow storms (Wed, December 27, 2009). It was very scary driving home!
After the doc reviewed the CT, he said that the spinal fluid was pooling in the void left after the tumor rescission. This is what is causing the swelling. He said he did not want to drain it but would rather like to train it to redirect to the brain like it was supposed to. He gave us a thick pad and some suture wrap and told us to place the pad on the area that was swelling then wrap it tightly around his head. This would apply pressure to the outside and not leave such a large area for the fluid to pool. He also suggested we put some blocks or something at the head of the bed to elevate it. The swelling started to occur after he finished taking the steroids so he also gave Tracy a prescription for another 8 days of steroids.
The swelling stayed for about 2 -3 days after wrapping his head but now it seems to be a bit less. It still swells but there is improvement. When he his up and walking around, there seems to be no swelling at all. In fact, it is actually a bit sunken in around that area. We are assuming this is because the muscle that they had to cut and manipulate during surgery has lost all of its strength and is a little tiny muscle now and will just need time to recover and rebuild. We are going to call the doctor to make sure that this is the case. I assume that is something that is probably normal.
Otherwise, the doctor said everything else looks great and the brain has actually started to move a little. He said that this is the reason for the on again and off again hearing loss and the double vision at times. The nerves are moving along with the brain which will happen through the process. It will only be temporary though.
So there it is. I will try to update more often but you know how things can get!
Talk to you soon!
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