The fall of 2019 was particularly difficult for me. After months of headaches, I was finally diagnosed with a cholesterol granuloma. Treatment… Surgery.
From the time of diagnosis to lying on the OR bed, it was only maybe two weeks at most. It would have been sooner, but I had a previously standing course to attend, and I was not able to get out of it without significant financial set-back. So I popped some prednisone, flew out to my course, and found myself back and on the chopping block in the span of a few moments.
To be honest, leading up to the surgery I was a complete and utter wreck. I have never had any significant medical issues before. I have never had surgery of any kind, and this was to be near my brain! Kind of important, brains!
Coming out of the first surgery, I was very loopy. It’s weird to think that in the time from my lying on the table, listening to them all talk about their roles and the plan for the surgery, to the time I woke up in the recovery “room” 4 + Hours had passed. It’s a little slice of my life, that is gone forever.
My first memory is that the surgeon came in. My nurse had told me before the surgery, that he would not come to see me after the procedure, but would only see my family, so I kept repeating “you came… they said you wouldn’t but you came anyway…” Unfortunately, he informed me that the surgery had not gone to plan, and though there were no unfortunate mishaps, further surgery would be indicated in two weeks.
In the following two weeks, I recovered with continued headaches, surgical pain and the distress of trying to file for short term disability. It did not go smoothly as they say, but in the end, I got where I needed to. By the second surgery, I felt confident in the drill and knew what to expect.
Having two major operations in a month takes a real toll on one’s body, and even three months later, I still have some numbness in the ear and the skin around the incision. There is a constant feeling that my ear has been “clogged” or as if there is a cotton ball wedged into its recessed, but I am now told that this is a side effect of the surgery. Likely, I will get used to it over time.
The good news is that the headaches are gone. The cyst is drained, and I’m back to “normal,” whatever that is these days.
~Lenora
Phoenix Rising 