EMERGENCY BRAIN SURGERY!

Yes, I am afraid so. I had emergency brain surgery!

I went to meet with the Neurosurgeon at UCLA on Friday, April 30th. I was very late for the appointment and by the time we got 1/5th of the way through the huge Medical Center, we had to have someone get me a wheelchair and escort us to the DR office. My nephew accompanied me. I thought I was going to drop by the time we got up to his office. I was filling out all the paperwork running out of breath quickly and feeling so dizzy. It wasn't anxiety either, I was just plain sick. By the time I was taken to a room and the DR came in to see me, I was so sick that he called 911. Emergency transport came to take me to the Emergency Room across the street.

I spent a long time in the ER. I had many small experiences. My memory is a little jumbled, so I don't remember the exact order that things happened. My memories aren't pieced together yet. I remember that I brought all my medications with me, because I knew they would ask at the DR appointment. At the ER I believe they were written down again about 5x by different departments of the hospital. I had many symptoms, too many to bother listing on here even. The Neurosurgeon who called 911 for me contacted the ER and was telling them that I need to have a tumor removed from my pituitary gland immediately. The ER DR told the Neurosurgeon that I have way too many other problems that need to be addressed before I would be considered stable enough for that kind of surgery.

I had an embarrassing moment too, I was thankful for it later though because it left me to feel no shame. Having no shame was very important for my care. I asked to use the restroom. I had to pee very bad. They wouldn't let me go to the restroom because of the drugs they had given me. My choices were the bedside commode or a bed pan. I couldn't do the bed pan, so I decided I would do the bedside commode. Mind you, I was only separated by curtains from everyone else in the rather small ER. They told me they needed a sample of urine and handed me the standard tiny collection container with 3 sanitary wipes and stressed the wiping of 3 times before urinating. I had barely finished their critical 3-wipe ritual when they were asking me if I was finished. I told them I hadn't started yet. It is so hard to carry my body around and get up from lying or sitting. So I'm slow, ya know? Anyways I sit down on this commode and my thighs are so tightly squished together that there was no way I could fit my arm through there to collect the sample. So I decided I would do my thing and pour some into the collection container afterwards. I finished peeing and grabbed some tissues they had left for me to wipe with. Well, I couldn't reach myself because my whole body was swelling. I couldn't wipe myself. They asked if I was okay or needed help and I told them my sad situation, I was about in tears. Another woman wiped me clean! It was so awkward. Like I said though, after that experience, there isn't much more to be embarrassed about.

Well, the next embarrassing scenario still hit home. A "Transport Nurse" came to take me to get an MRI. My previous MRI was 2 months old, they wanted a fresh one. The MRI machine was so small. I didn't fit into it! They tried many times, I screamed, they pushed, I screamed they tried to calm me, they pushed, I screamed... I won. No MRI.

A few days prior I had gone to get a "Dexascan" of my spine & hip. They scanned my forearm instead. The assessment? "The patient's bone density was normal at the forearm site." Then, in all CAPS: "Patient exceeds table weight limit so a dexa of the spine and hip could not be performed. A dexa of the forearm is done to complete the study."

After the MRI fit, the Transport Nurse took me to room 513A. My nephew left and began his drive back to Nevada, but he had brought all of my stuff to my room for me.

I really don't remember too much about being in that room, they must have given me some really nice drugs.

Next thing I knew I was in the ICU. It was a few days later, May 2nd I think. I had already had brain surgery, the tumor had been removed. I was on oxygen, they kept saying I needed it, my "oxygen saturation" was low. Lots of DRs stopped by telling me what part of my surgery they performed. It apparently took four teams of DRs to get to and remove my tumor. I was later told the tumor was very large and very hard and drilling through it took 5 hours. Normally the surgery is only about 3 hours total. I was not only lucky to be alive, but even luckier, I still had all my senses about me. Some things are a little strange, but I think everything is just reprogramming still. The best part that I am very thankful for is that I haven't needed any blood pressure medication.

My blood pressure has remained normal! Yeah!

My blood/sugars are another ballpark though. They are not in control and I will need some major adjustments and close supervision with my Diabetes until I lose the excess weight. My skin is already loosening up a lot and my body feels entirely different. Heavier too. When I was in room 513A I remember them bringing in some large super-scale and had me stand on it. It registered my weight at 301 lbs.

After being in the ICU for a day or so, I was moved to room 743B. I shared the actual room with a woman named Brooke. I began to be more aware of my surroundings at that point. My husband was there visiting me.

Just as I was typing I got this strange sensation in my left nostril and pulled out what appears to be a chip of bone. My left nostril feels quite normal in general and there was no blood. My right nostril seems very wrong and even feels like there is missing skin inside of it. I am extremely worried about it, and it's extremely painful too. My 5 month old boy head-butted me there earlier in the evening and it made me cry.

I received a bouquet of roses & Get Well Soon balloons from my Aunt and her clique of the family. It really does help, I think. That was the first time I had been in the hospital that I was sent flowers and balloons to look at everyday. I woke up each day knowing that people cared and were thinking of me. It helped a lot to get me feeling better. The roses sat on the window sill and are still alive sitting on my counter/ breakfast bar. The balloons still float too!

I'll remember many stories of my time in room 743B at UCLA as I slowly recover from my brain surgery and as I remember them, I will post them here to my blog. I remember quite a bit as it is, but I am tired and in so much pain. I need to lay down and try to fall asleep.

Believe me, there is much more to this story and it's pretty interesting, at least I think so. Check back later for more posts about my brain surgery recovery and my release from UCLA Medical Center.