Ok, so the last time I posted was like, in November. At that time, I had just found out that I had a "meningioma", which is a tumor located on the lining of one's brain. I had also ascertained I would have it removed, posthaste before it grew any larger and started causing problems.
I had surgery on December 15th and just had my one month follow up with the neurosurgeon. He said the incision looks great and has released me to go back to work this coming Monday with no restrictions. He had also put me on anti-seizure medication immediately after the surgery, as a precaution. I no longer have to take it and stopped taking it following my appointment this past Wednesday. Over yesterday and today I have already noticed an increase in my energy levels and attribute this to anti-seizure meds. I'm VERY happy to have energy again, instead of feeling all lethargic and tired all the time.
Also, the Monday before my surgery, I had my finals for school. I'm so very happy to say that I made an A in both classes. Those that heard me ranting and raving about my Macroeconomics class will understand how happy I am considering I would have been happy with simply passing the class by the end of the semester. I am not skipping a semester because of my surgery. I have already enrolled and have my book for next semester. Classes begin on Tuesday but as my class is an "in-class" class and is on Mondays, I actually don't have class until the following Monday. This gives me a week to get used to being back to work. The last day of class is officially May 11th and then I will be graduating with my Associates in Accounting. I'll be halfway there, at last.
I've already contacted the two schools but I have to apply for admission before they'll really talk to me about anything. I think I'm going to skip summer semester so as to give myself plenty of time to make sure I have everything together. This gives me until June 1st to have applied and been accepted to both schools, or somewhere thereabouts. After the rush of the last... 7 or so months, I do not feel like rushing again right now and I'm not going to push myself. It took me the entire month I've been out of work to both recuperate from the surgery and the stress I'd been under. I'd like to not be quite so stressed again for a little while, thanks.
I also had another bout with my ear, having the tinnitus and low pitch hearing loss. I went to the ENT who put me on another dosage of prednisone and is also wondering if it might be something called "Meniere's Disease" which essentially means there is something that is triggering these episodes and it's a matter of figuring out what it is and keeping it under control, if possible. Otherwise, not much can be done. I have my follow up with the ENT this coming Tuesday.
I have headaches every day, thanks to the surgery, but as time and healing continues, the headaches are decreasing in frequency. I also have issues with eating, since they had to separate one of the muscles the jaw uses to get to the area where the tumor was. The doctor said this is normal and that it could last for months, until the muscle reattaches to the bone and finishes healing. It's annoying, but I'm not going to complain because it could have been MUCH worse.
During my time off, I've finished the bib I was making for my supervisor who's wife is expecting in March and I've started working on the next project for my Mini-me. It looks ok so far and we'll see how it turns out in the end. So the next steps- going back to work on Monday and then starting school again the following Monday. I also want to continue working on getting my stamina back up to normal levels and continue making progress on Mini-me's project. I have 2 others behind that one that should be fun to do as well but I will get to them whenever I do.
Also on the list of upcoming things to do is getting back into the swing of losing weight. I haven't gained entirely back to where I was and the plan is to get started again to make my goal weight. I'm not making any promises but I've already started by cutting back on the amount of cokes I've been drinking and I also plan to be eating more homemade meals instead of fast food.
All in all, I think things are going well. I haven't figured out what to do with my hair yet, but I think I need to wait just a bit longer to let the incision area finish healing up. I'm still thinking of cutting the underside of that whole side short and dying it purple... Teeheehee.
