Ok, so I now have no skull bone over the right temple of my head. Does it look odd? Oh, yes it does. I see myself buying lots of hats and scarfs.
Last night about 2am I woke up because I felt something wet on my hands and I was very cold for some reason. I turned on the light and looked at my hands, they were soaked in blood. My bed from my shoulder to my knee was soaked in blood, my clothes were no longer white they were red. My first thought is my head opened up so I checked my head. Nope it was closed.
I rang for the nurse then checked the rest of my body. This was something that you see on a tv crime show. I ran to the door and before I got there in comes the nurse. She took one look at me and says (in english) HOLY CRAP! She took me into the bathroom, stripped off my clothes then we discover where all the blood was coming from. One of the corks that closes off my IV tube came off! I get cleaned up then we come back to my bed. I tell ya, I had never seen anything like this before. My heart was pumping so fast and all I keep thinking is this is a nightmare but one that I need to share. It just seems so unreal but in actuality it is real. I figure this, everytime I see a crime show on tv or something to this effect I can actually say "hey I know how that feels" When I told my nurse this she just laughed and said I was nuts. I don't understand why you think I am nuts I said..LOL..She said only you can find humor so fast in all this..LOL..I see it this way, I have learned though out all this since the word aneurysm that humor is the best medicine and makes life soooooo much easier..oh and so much more fun.. :)
I thought I would share this stranger then fiction story with you!!
Oh Kimberly, I am so sorry to hear what you are going through. I haven't been on the website in a while. I went through exactly the same thing last year. I had commented to you about my infection when you were talking about the swelling you were experiencing.
They left my bone flap out for seven weeks while I had round the clock IV antibiotics. They replaced it with an acrylic bone flap in February of 2010 and I am doing wonderful now. It is a long road, but you will get through. I am here if you have any questions. Hang in there and stay positive!
I do remember you telling me about your infection. I had the 2nd surgery to correct the swelling problem I was having. An MRI showed that there was fluid in my head, I was leaking. I guess that there is some defect in my bone so what they used to seal the hole that they drill did not work. It's actually bee wax that fell behind the orbit of my eye, it's also why the leak. All this repaired at the 2nd surgery. Once the operations swelling went down almost two weeks later I finally looked like myself only with dark hair. I was excited, felt great and was even looking at myself in the mirror. It was only last Monday I was out and visiting people, going to lunch with a friend. I had people telling me I was glowing, for the first time in more then 3 months I was not worried about going out and having people see me. The very next morning I woke up with major swelling of all places the temple of my head, the pain was worse than any of the pain I had after my operations, within a few hours I was taken to emergency then to have a CT scan then taken by ambulance too the hospital where my neuro is at. Once I get there I am told that there is fluid in my head again and they believe there is infection. next day I am in surgery again, there was infection so he had no other choice to remove skull bone.
How long where you in the hospital? Did you wear any head protection? Did you have an restrictions? How big and where was there area of bone removed? How long was recovery? How long were you without bone? How many operations did you end up having? So many questions I have but we can start with these if that is ok..
Thanks for the reply Wendy and so glad to hear your doing so good!!
I had a total of 4 surgeries including the first to clip my aneurysm. I too had swelling around my eye and temple. I went back in to the hospital 2 1/2 months after my first surgery and they opened my head back up and drained the fluid. My neurosurgeon knew something was wrong when she saw the fluid and put me on IV antibiotics while they did cultures to find out what was going on. I was in the hospital 5 days that time mainly waiting for the test results. I went back a week later and she told me there was an infection and they were going to have to remove the bone flap and leave it out while they treated the infection. They removed the bone flap (another 5 days in the hospital) and left it out for 7 weeks while I had round the clock IV penicillin. The bone flap was my right frontal, so from the middle of my forehead to the top of my ear, about 2 inches across.
I did have to wear a helmet to protect my head. I didn't work during this time and I couldn't drive. There was no bending over or lifting anything heavy. I only went to Dr's appointments because I didn't want people to see me like this. They put the synthetic bone flap back seven weeks later. That was only a 3 day hospital stay. I have been doing great since then. It seems like such a long time, but looking back it all turned out great. Please stay in touch. I am happy to answer any questions!
Our stories sound alot alike. My bone that was removed is the same as yours. I wonder why you only had to wait 7 weeks and I have to wait 5 months..hmmm
I really don't have any restrictions just to never forget that I am missing a skull bone. I do have to wait a month to drive again though and I don't know about you but when I go home then they are having someone come to my house to take walks with me. For some reason they don't want me walking outside alone. I did find out this morning that I will not be able to go home until atleast Monday.
I have to say I am finding that this is not the norm or alot of people are being quiet..
Either way I am guessing it's going to be a long summer...
If I think of anymore questions I will ask..Thanks for the information!!
I didn't spell that wrong, it's hello in Swedish. Just think of it as today's lesson. :)
Ya know that I have been moved to the hospital in my town right? Or maybe not!
Anyhow I had an intresting conversation with the night nurse who asked me how my experience was at the last hospital. I thought she was going to pee her pants when she found out about my crime feeling experience and when I told her I asked the doctors that walked into our room how old they are and that I had told one doctor that he would look so much nicer if he would smile. She said that there are not people like me here in Sweden. I find that hard to believe. lol
I had an eye exam this morning, I explained to the doctor how a couple of weeks ago I was watching tv and all of a sudden everything was double. I explained how I walked into the bathroom and saw two of me then yelled out "the world is not ready for two of you" He just looked at me like OOOOOHHHHKAY...LOL..I don't think he knew how to react..lol..Anyways how are you sweetie? send my reguards to the hubby...
I have been reading your posts and I love your sense of humor! Hold on to that! I took walks with someone almost every day. It does help. I am surprised they are not having you wear a helmet for protection. My neurosurgeon did tell me that I was the first patient she had replaced the bone flap in that quickly. It has been a little over a year and everything is fine, so she knew what she was doing! I don't think infection is the norm, thank goodness, so aren't we lucky? Keep smiling :)