Well, I don't know about the other issues, but I'm glad that I'll probably be having surgery non-local. It solves the kid issue for us. I've got 4 kids ages 12 and under. I know from what I've read from others about recovery from the surgery, that i probably won't be up to having them visit anyway. Our plan is for hubby to stay with friends in San Fran while I'm at the hospital and my sister to stay with our kids while we're gone. If I don't feel up to going home to the kids the day I'm released, I can go to my Mom's house for a day or two before we come home. We live about 2 1/2 hours from San Francisco.
I had lots of pain with laughing, it was my number one reason for having the surgery! I could not stand not being able to laugh with my kids! I am so happy I had the surgery. Pre-op, just nervous, lots to do to prepare the house and explain things to the kids. It was very stressing waiting for the surgery. Post-op went pretty well, I wrote some longer posts about if if you take a look at some of my postings. I was lucky, only 48 hours in the hospital and then i was able to go home. My daughter is 11 and had a hard time seeing me in the neuro-unit, lots of things hooked up to you and just a lot to process. I don't know if it is good for them to see you or not, it spooked her but she was happy to see that I was ok. She did much better once I got home. It was frustrating with the pain for the first couple of weeks but it does get easier. For a pillow I used my normal one, I had to sleep on my side for quite a while! The best thing I had was a recliner, it was hard to get in and out of bed and the recliner was much easier to rest in and it gave good head support. I used two pillows,one on each side of my head to keep the pressure off. It was not a fun surgery but I am thrilled with the life improvements, I am happy to laugh with my kids and not have head pain! Good luck with the process, if you have more questions, just ask!
taking kids into hospital is not a good idea in my opinion, they are susceptible to infections that are found in most hospitals and there immune systems are not developed enough to handle these bugs :) not worth the risk. If you are in pain you dont want them seeing this. Can you get your partner to record a message on your phone and show the kids in the evening?
You can talk with the hospital staff if you feel strongly about having the kids visit :)
lol we all learn the hard way what laughing, coughing and sneezing dose to us, I hope the pain passes soon...
Ray
Hi...yes pain from laughing is something I always had...never cared for....in fact, if I laughed too much I would eventually gag....and possibly vomit (sorry)...I would always say don't make me laugh...don't make me puke, or that is funny...ouch....lol......
As far as children in the hospital...I did not want to see people....it was all I could do to deal with the roommate and their guests(not Janet, I had a dosey after she left)....u do not want a parade...even once u r home...I did not have my parents or my sisters come visit...I just needed it to be quiet, clam and relaxing....once u r feeling better slowly add a visit or two....but be warned it is easy to be lulled into thinking u r up to it when in fact it is the meds, and u will feel it later...so regardless how invincible u feel...take it slow.
AS for a pillow...we do have a link to a chiari pillow in the links page....but I got a pillow from Target for 9.99 it is called a re shape able pillow...worked great, plus my DD got me a lumbar pillow made by homedics...it is a perfect pillow for car travel as well as I took it to the hospital with me.
And u can see my surgery pics and experience if u click over my name (blue hyper link).This takes u to a profile page where the journals and photo albums r located.
Good luck and do keep us posted
"selma"
Hi.I have 5 kids. 7,6,6,and 18month old twins. My surgery which was 13 days ago was at Johns Hopkins and they don't allow visitors under 14 so that was something I didn't have to worry about my inscision is pretty long (atleast 10inches) because my NS used pericranium for my dura patch. That is just her preference. After surgery some of my symptoms went away, others are not as bad, and so far no new symptoms. I had my fiance but my like 5 pillows. Some soft and some firm and I ended up using them all. I slept on the couch until yesterday and slept sitting up. My only problem is now I'm having trouble sleeping. I couldn't take the pain meds because they made me so constipated I thought I was going to end up back in the hospital. My inciscion has dissolvable stitches on the inside and glue on the outside so - was able to shower and wash my hair on day 3. The only downside, I am forgetting how to spell a lot of words post surgery!
I did forget to mention I developed thrush in the hospital from the antibiotics and that has been the worst complication because everything I eat or drink burns my mouth!
Tia, how is ur thrush now, is it cleared up?...did they give u DIFLUCAN?....just wondering what they gave u to help u get rid of it.
My roommate when I was in for my PFD got thrush while still in, her tongue swelled up so much she could barely talk....I had thrush after being intubated for a knee surgery and I said something to my anesthesiologist in the OR just b4 they began, he promised to use the smallest tube and be careful not to scratch me...I had no issues.
"selma"
They gave me something called nystatin. Its almost gone now.
Thanks Tia, that is one med given for yeast that I have not had, but good to hear about....glad to hear it is working : )