At the beginning of the year we felt the year was dragging a little. Well, we shouldn’t have said that because here we are in December trying to remember all the memories we made. I’m not complaining though, it was a good year.

My surgery to remove the nerve sheath tumor (called a schwannoma) in my L2-L3 area of my spine is scheduled for January 13th. I won’t really know what my recovery will be like until after surgery is complete. If the neurosurgeon needs to place a drain to monitor leaking spinal flui, I will end up being in the ICU for about a week with a possible step down to a regular room for a few more days. He is anticipating needing to place a drain and hoping it’s not needed. The need for a drain all depends on how much needs to be done to remove the tumor during surgery. Leaking spinal fluid is no good and cause more issues so having a drain placed isn’t the worst because it will help make sure it’s all sealed up and good to go. If I don’t need a spinal drain placed, I may end up only needing to be inpatient for a few days to a week total in a regular room. It’s a wait and see kind of thing.

I’m not looking forward to the recovery at all but I’m looking forward to the possibility of having less pain (more tolerable pain) and maybe being pain free. There may be lasting damage to the nerves that can’t be changed but once again it’s a wait and see kind of thing. I’m preparing for the worst but of course hoping for the best as always.

I’m getting everything in place I may need, that I can think of, for my recovery. I purchased slip on tennis shoes (Sketchers to be exact) that don’t require me to bend over to put them on or tie them. This way I won’t need anyone else to put my shoes on and tie them for me. I also ordered a shower chair in case standing in the shower is hard to do for a full shower. Heck, there’s plenty of times a shower chair would come in easy when I’m having bad breathing days anyway. I take a lot of breaks when taking showers as it. We already have a wand attached to our shower head, so that’s helpful. My husband put in the time he will taking off of work during my surgery and recovery time. My sister is coming to stay, as well, for the first week to help out.

My CF doctor will be starting me on IV antibiotics (Cefepime 2G every 8 hours) at home 5 days prior to surgery and continue them for 10 days post op. He will see me while I’m in the hospital and we can adjust anything that needs adjusting. I think that’s all the details about my upcoming surgery.

ADDED TRANSPLANT UPDATE: I reached out to my transplant coordinator/nurse to ask if it is ok for me to go to once a year checkups instead of every 6 months. My transplant doctor suggested that I could go to once a year as long as I’m steady lung wise at my last check up in September. I didn’t want going to once a year if it would affect my standing with the transplant process/center. No, I’m NOT officially listed for a lung transplant. They are just keeping an eye on me to keep me up to date with them and all my testing. I decided to go ahead and cancel my 6 month check up that was scheduled in March. Now, I’m scheduled in September for my yearly check up. I’m comfortable with going once a year now. If I start to have some issues going on where I’m not stable I will call them to be seen sooner. Going once a year helps with scheduling other things throughout the year as well.

Thank you for all the love and support! It is so appreciated!

Until next time…