Category: Fatigue

The Left Side

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I feel like I have a hangover, but didn’t have the fun of enjoying the alcohol!

I must have slept a LONG time on the left side of my face and head overnight, I woke up feeling quite horrible with head, ear, and neck pain. I had been doing so good that I removed the pillows I placed behind my back to keep me from rolling over on that side. I guess that was a no-no.

Bone Flap GraphicSo, if you have had one of these (graphic on left)…even 4 weeks after the procedure, don’t sleep on it yet!

I felt better after breakfast and needed to get to the bank to deposit some checks, so I asked Dave to drive me there. We had one more stop afterwards, so I drove from the bank to there. It was a short drive with not much traffic, but it was a start. My eyes and head ached so I knew I had to stop and Dave continued drive back home.

Called my mom when we got home, ate lunch and crashed on the couch. Head and eyes not feeling good….like I have a hangover…wish that’s what it was. Time for pain pills!

I Hear You Knocking…

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Well, that was new, but not unexpected. I was doing my walking in the house this morning and started hearing a ticking. After ruling out everything else, even removing my glasses thinking it was coming from there, I realized it was my head….or bone flap…or….

It was definitely coming from there and wasn’t a real consistent sound, but I noticed it. I had been warned I might have strange popping or ticking sounds coming from the bone area, but this is the first time I have heard it. Very odd. Perhaps the swelling has gone down enough for some things to be shifting when I move. Not sure.

My head has been aching and itching a little the last couple of days. I could not keep my eyes open yesterday and basically didn’t do anything.

I’m starting to make plans to go back to work on a part-time basis at first, see how that goes, and hope to be back at work full-time by March 17th. We’ll see how that goes. I haven’t driven yet, so I need to get that done. At least it is staying lighter later and won’t be dark when I leave work at 4:30.

Until then, Dave, Lexie, and Smokey are taking care of me and keeping me entertained.


Smokey helping me.

Three Week Update

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At the three week mark, I need to step up my recovery and build up my stamina. Dr. Dave informed me yesterday he needs to get me OUT of the house and exposed to more stimuli. Hmm….wonder what that means…and just where did he get that direction?

Seriously though, I do need to do that. During my recovery after my rupture, once I started going into surroundings that I wasn’t seeing on a daily basis that had a lot of clutter, it was tough to process all of the data my brain was seeing. I am hoping I won’t have that kind of difficulty this time because the clipping wasn’t an emergency situation like the rupture in 2006 was.

I’m now trying to come up with a word or two to describe what my scalp feels like the last couple of days. It doesn’t hurt or ache really, it just feels…odd. When I psychically touch the left side of my head it psychically feels like my scalp has been shot up with novocaine and I’m told it could feel that way for months. That’s an easy one to describe and something other people can relate to.

However, when I’m not touching it, there are odd sensations and slight aches and pains when I’m simply sitting still. I’m assuming it’s all part of the process…just strange for me going through clipping this first time after multiple coilings

My hair is growing back and, if the winds are favorable, I can cover that area up with the longer hair around the 1″ wide shaved section and the incision. If it’s windy…well, people get the freak show.

When I have my 4-week follow up appointment, I’ll be curious to ask my Dr. exactly where the bone section of the skull was removed and to get a better idea of the size of the aneurysm.

From middle of forehead to ear Hair growing back And some hair covers it

Fresh Air

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Yesterday was a breath of fresh air…literally! It finally warmed up enough and wasn’t horribly windy or icy outside, so I took a short walk down the road and back with Dave as my crutch. Then we filled the bird feeders. It was chilly, but that fresh, cool air in my lungs felt great.

I think one of the reasons I get a little bit dizzy inside when I walk is that I have to turn around so much and if I get walking too quickly I turn around too quickly. When we walked outside, I could just go straight…and it was much easier. So I should either walk outside or go slower inside, especially when turning. Makes sense.

As we were walking into the house the phone was ringing. It was my fellow aneurysm survivor Lori, from Florida calling to check in on me. She had been reading my blog and wanted to let me know a few things. One was that my numb head could be that way for months until all of those nerves that were cut get aligned back up and heal. I get to look forward to prickly feelings! It was so nice of her to call and it’s certainly a comfort to speak to someone who’s gone through it and knows what you’re experiencing.

Then, while I was in phone mode, I gave mom a call and checked in with her, then had some lunch. Needless to say, I was pooped.

However, I’ve been craving scones for some time now and knew I had a scone mix in the pantry, so I thought I’d mix those up before collapsing for the rest of the day. There are literally 4 ingredients to the scones. The mix, one egg, butter and milk. They are SO easy and quite tasty, but wow, did cutting the butter in cause pure exhaustion. I took my time, but it took a LOT of time. LOL

15 minutes later I had fresh scones and I DID eat them with a nice cup of tea and some marmalade, then hit the love seat and crashed. Dave made some more stew for dinner and it hit the spot later.

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Outside! Finally. The killer scones.