I made it out of the ICU!

I left the ICU and moved to the neuro-unit on the sixth floor. At the end of the hall, were two rooms that were bigger then the rest.

They called them 'suites.'

A doctor that used to be there had them for his patients. I was lucky enough to end up in one of those! The room was nice and had a lot of space compared to the other ones. I now had to get used to different nurses. And on the ICU floor, each nurse has two patients. So if I rang for my nurse she was in my room very quickly. On the regular neuro floor, the nurses had five or so patients, so I could sometimes be waiting longer to hear from them.

As the swelling went down,
the area without skull
became easier to see

Luckily, on this floor I did not need to be hooked up to anything! (Besides my IV antibiotics. Those are 24/7.) And I had a bathroom with a shower in my room! I was allowed to get up whenever I wanted. No alarm on my bed! They also encouraged me to walk the halls. I did not do that too often. My mom would bug me a lot to do it. She was worried I wasn't getting out of bed often enough. Sometimes she would bribe me to go for a walk! I still had my vitals taken every couple hours, but that I could handle! Not having a million cords hooked up to me was SO nice! I was still in the hospital, but I felt like a free women!

The hospital food was only okay. I was getting really sick of it by now.

(My nurses told me about a secret menu, made for patients that are there a long period of time, that I could choose from. I used that a lot! There was a small pizza, grilled cheese, breakfast, and chicken strips on it.)

One day, I was eating a wrap (off the regular menu), I looked down and the wrap was full of blood! I had bit the numb side of my lip. This is now a regular for me. I accidentally bite it often, usually I can catch myself before I bite too hard on it though. (A year later and that lip hasn't improved at all and I don't think it will. They say nerves can take a year to heal. Maybe even longer, but that area has had no improvement at all so I don't think it ever will. I'm still on the nerve med and it has helped so much! I can feel the tingly sensation but its nothing like it was right after surgery. I notice as I get tired throughout the the day, the nerves feel worse.)

Amanda and Stacy!

My friends Stacy and Amanda came to see me for a night! It was great! They brought sushi and cute cupcakes. We had such a good time hanging out and catching up on life. It was amazing seeing people from home!

I had another friend, Joanne, that kept trying to come down and see me, but we never knew when I was having a surgery or leaving the hospital because we were pretty much on a day to day basis. Jo did so much at home for me, though! She was taking care of my house, she put up my Christmas tree and decorated for me. She would take the kids on the weekend to give my aunt a break. I couldn't have appreciated her more. She was doing these things out of the goodness of her heart. Not because I asked her.

Between my brother, Joanne and Amanda they were taking care of my dog. I am so lucky to have these people in my life that were so willing to help me. I got so many cards and gift baskets from people I know all around the world. I loved getting mail and it was so touching that people would go out of their way for me.

The nurses on this floor were amazing also! They would offer to bring me things when they came in the next morning. They also got together and wrote a huge list of their favorite shows because I was running out of ideas on what to watch next! I was home just in time for Christmas and they got gifts for my kids and I! Some days I didn't have my favorite nurses, but they would still come in and visit with me when they got a chance. It's crazy to think of all the relationships made in the hospital. I got to know all of my doctors and NP's much more then I would have if things had gone as planned. And I can't say there is a single one that I disliked. I was so lucky to have found this team of people.

I had a lady that would come talk to me about the IV antibiotic and figure out information on where I would be staying once I was out of the hospital. A nurse would have to come see me to take vitals, clean the picc line and deliver the antibiotics every few days.

I told her I was going to be going home.

She wasn't sure if that was going to work because it was so far away and if the weather caused the antibiotics to not get there...and she also didn't work with nurses at home either. I was almost freaking out at her.

There was no way I was staying in Milwaukee until I was off these antibiotics!

I was going home.

My poor eyelashes!

I had kids at home that needed their mom. I was still so antsy in the hospital. I was going crazy and crabby so often because I hated being stuck there. Its been over 3 weeks! Any time this lady came in, I didn't like our conversations. My mood went sour whenever I saw her. (And she was too chipper for me.  Haha.)

And here I thought
I was lookin great!
From where I was, yes,
but still so swollen.

My eye was doing so much better now. It still wasn't open all the way, but I could now see out of it and all the weird colors were gone. I still has some swelling on that side too but not nearly like it was the first two weeks. And my hair was growing more and more! One day my eyelashes started falling out. Like many at a time even if I barely touched them. I hated that it was happening, I love my eyelashes,  but I figured between all the surgeries and meds I was on, something was causing it.

After the dressing was removed,
before a new was put on. 

One thing I learned from one of my early surgeries is that the tape they use to hold the IV's down hurts when they remove it! After that, I started shaving my arms before going in so when they pulled the tape off it was painless. I get red really easy and I had tape all over me. Especially the Picc and Port. They both had their "dressing" changed every few days and the tape was thick and strong so no bacteria made its way in. Uggghh!

My mom was still here with me, but I was bugging her to go home. Luckily, her work was great and she was able to take time off to be with me. Here and there, she did work on her computer in my room.

My kids had been staying at my Aunts house this entire time! A week stay turned into a month! But they got into a routine and I think the kids really enjoyed being there. My cousins took my kids on as their siblings. Jill would do Shaya's hair. They all helped them with their homework. It was so great of them! My mom wanted to be with me and I completely understand how she wanted to be with her child. But I was okay there by myself. I had people around to come visit me and all I really did was sleep or watch shows. And I really wanted her to go home and be with my kids. And let my Aunt have a break! She finally decided that she would.

The weekend she left my cousin Alicia came to visit me from Detroit. It was SO nice to see her and spend time with her. It was like a change of scenery!  We did nothing but talk and eat the whole time!

My sweet cousin Alicia

One day while she was there I noticed the area around my stitches on the right side was more swollen then it had been.  Every now and then I would wipe a drip of liquid off my chin. At first I thought it was drool because I was doing that a lot from having the numb lip!! (There were times I'd wake from a nap and have a wet spot on my pillow. Or I'd be sitting with my head tilted and on my chin, going down my neck I'd feel drool! Food would be on my face and I wouldn't even know!) Finally, I realized that it was dripping from the incision. And then all of a sudden later that day, I had a constant stream coming down my face from it! I got a kick out of it and was saving every piece of gauze I used to catch it to show the nurse when she came in. It was a light reddish yellow color. Of course, it had me a bit nervous also because things finally seemed under control...but now we have a new problem.

All the fluid that came out

We taped me up so
I didn't have to keep holding
something on it, also check out my eye!

My stitches were also due to come out and I was worried about that because there were SO many across my head! I've never had a good experience with stitches. They always hurt coming out for me. (Later, I found out that I heal quickly, which is a good thing but not when it came to stitches!) They almost have to dig them out because I start healing over them.

My doctor came and saw me early Monday morning and decided we needed to go back into surgery that day! Luckily I only took a few bites of my french toast and then once I found that out I stopped eating and drinking. He also said he would take out the rest of my stitches while I was under and I absolutely loved the idea of that!

The next two weeks

Over the next two weeks I had many scans to check on fluid around my brain. I'm a pro at MRIs by this point!

My freshly painted toes.

I spent my days in bed. Every now and then my nurse would like me to get up and sit in my chair. I would for a little bit, but I preferred my bed. I watched Netflix and Hulu or slept. My mom was still here with me and her friend Bes came often. She would bring in the food she made.

My two aunts that live in Milwaukee would come visit, too. One night my Aunt Liza gave me a pedicure. It was so nice to have painted toes! During my time in the hospital I found out that she had breast cancer. She had surgery and all is well now. She was a couple months behind me on the chemo, hair loss and everything else that goes along with it! Its nice having someone else to talk to about things that most haven't been through.

The new Picc line.

I also had a picc line put in. My chemo port was being used and I had an IV in my arm.

I either needed more IV's or could get a picc line put in.

I chose that instead.

It goes in your upper arm and to get it put in was pretty painless. A nurse that has a full time job of putting picc lines in came to my room with an ultrasound machine and a rolling drawer with a lot of supplies. He had to sanitize the area and hooked my chest up to a bunch of wires to watch my heart rate. I had to keep my head to the left as he worked on my right arm.  He said he has done this so many times he almost has it perfected to no pain for me.

I first got a numbing shot. It stings for a short minute and then its numb. He used the ultrasound machine to find the vein he was going to hook it up to. He started putting it in and during the process he would keep giving me numbing shots before the one prior would wear off. Before I knew it, he was done and the picc was being used.

A drain tube, penrose drain
and hair starting to grow!

In the ICU, I was always hooked up to a heart monitor. I had the sticky wires all over my chest at all times. I also had a blood pressure cuff on at all times. If everything was on track the blood pressure machine only went off once an hour, so I would slip it off in between and set my alarm to get it on in time for the next time I needed my blood pressure taken.  I had an oxygen monitor on my finger. This drove me nuts. It was hooked to a cord and made it hard to do anything without getting tangled up. I had the leg cuffs on too. They kept me from getting blood clots in my legs since I wasn't moving much. I wore them sometimes and took then off at times too. My legs would get itchy from having them on!

So add the picc line, IV, and my port hooked up...I was attached to so many things! To go to the bathroom was a process because most of the cords had to be disconnected and the IV machine had to come with me.

Fluid that comes out of drain tube.
Emptied and measured daily

I had new drain tubes in my head again and also had a soft rubber tube. That one is called a penrose. After a little while, I had the two big drain tubes removed. No problems this time getting them out. Staples put in place again too. The entire top of my head was now numb so that helped a lot with them messing with it because I couldn't feel anything up there. The side was still more tender though.

Every day, my NP would come in and remove the gauze, look at my incision and we would discuss anything on my mind. She would ask what our goals are today. If there were any questions I had, she would get the answers for me. She was great! And she was having a baby so we would discuss that often, too.

Swelling is getting better.
Eye still swollen

 Like I said in a previous post, I became close with some of my nurses. One of my nurses, when she walked in for the first time one day, she looked at me and said, "why don't we have you sit in your chair, eat your breakfast and then I will get you towels, warm soapy water and a new gown to wear."  The thought didn't sound appealing at all, but after I did it, I'd feel a million times better.

She could tell by looking at me that I needed a pick-me-up.

Another nurse, she was there one day when I had an MRI and depending on the results would mean if I needed another surgery. We were so anxious waiting for the results. I couldn't eat anything that day just in case I was going back in. When the results were in, the nurse came with the news. She told us that I didn't have to have surgery and she had tears in her eyes! It was so sweet to see how involved they get.  It was always such an emotional roller coaster for everyone.

 It was hard to get a good nights sleep because the nurse had to come in and do a neuro exam every two hours. After about two weeks in there they would let me go 4 hours during the night. I would usually get up and use the bathroom and get some more pain meds and try to fall back to sleep. Some nights I had to watch a show or go on my phone for a while before I could fall asleep again.

Was so happy to see my kids!

Always hid that bad eye in photos!

 My kids were able to come visit me while I was in here. It was hard for them the first time they saw me.

They had to walk through the ICU seeing all of the other patients before getting to my room and then they had to see me with a swollen eye and wrapped head.

After they did some crying, they were okay and we had fun visiting with each other. They came and went from the hospital over the next day before they had to go back home.

About two weeks after surgery, I noticed when the gauze came off I had a brown head! It was so exciting to see my hair was finally coming back. Each day it seems like so much more. After a few weeks in the ICU, we seemed to have things under control. I was told I could move to 6KLM. It was the neuro floor.  I liked the idea of that, but would miss my nurses on the ICU floor.

Making progress!

Surgery #3 October 29

After surgery and no skull bone. 
Hard to tell its gone in this photo 
because I still had so much swelling.

Back into surgery I go.

It's later in the day that I have this one. I'm trying to be patient, but I just want to get knocked out and feel better.

This surgery was very different then the other ones. You have previously read the shower routine I go through before entering the operating room.

This time, it's been 6 days since I've taken a shower.

One bonus, since having chemo, I still have no hair on my body! But, as I was getting onto the operating table (with the same nurses AGAIN!), I told them I was sorry and I am embarrassed that I haven't taken a shower in 6 days!

The one nurse said, "Oh honey, you have nothing to worry about! You have no idea what we see on this table!"

We laughed and into la-la land I went.

When I woke, I was back in my room and my head was wrapped in gauze. I was already feeling better and my swelling was down. My right side and eye were, of course, still swollen. My poor eye. Its probably so damaged by now. But at this point all I cared about was going to the bathroom (no catheter for this surgery) and I wanted food. I had to use a bed pan and its the weirdest thing ever. Trying to go to the bathroom while laying in a bed is almost impossible to do. It just doesn't feel right! They won't let me get out of bed yet though. I had to go so bad that I accomplished it. Haha.

My Mom and Bes ordered me all kinds of food from the restaurant down the road. It was eggs, hash browns, crepes, soup and fruit! Keep in mind, I'm still only eating soft things. And every bite is super slow and I need to make sure that I concentrate on making sure my teeth line up right. Eating is now a long, slow process for me.

I needed blood transfusions
after all of my surgeries.

The doctor came in and explained to me that he found an infection on my skull bone. The only thing they could do was remove my skull.

Yes, you read that right.

My skull bone was removed. The area removed was from above my ear, to the top of my head. And from my eyebrow over to the back of the side of my head. The doctor was worried that he was going to have to remove my eye.

(Holy shit!) I'm very lucky that he didn't have to.

After this surgery, like my last two surgeries, I  needed to have a couple units of blood transfused. I am now to be on an IV antibiotic for six weeks. (Six weeks? I sure hope I'll be able to do that from home.) In the beginning, I was on a few different ones until the infection was tested and they knew what to use to treat it.

Swollen but not as bad as before.
Look at that eye!
The swelling had taken
over my other eye, too.

I was going to be without a piece of my skull for six months. They were not going to do it anytime sooner because they wanted to make sure I would not get another infection from surgery. I was to wear a helmet in the mean time.

A helmet?

I did not like the idea of that AT ALL. What does this helmet look like?

I was going to be a hermit for the next six months and do nothing if that's what I'm wearing.  My mom would almost get mad when I would say I'm not going anywhere. Not even to a grocery. But, unless you're the one that's supposed to have this helmet on your head at all times, I don't think you'd understand. People stare. It looks like you have something wrong. And you stand out in a way that you absolutely do not want to.

This was the hardest, most emotional day in my life...

The closest I have been to death.

I have an infection in my brain.

I'm on antibiotics for so long.

And I have no skull bone.

I am exhausted and sad. What the hell is happening?

COMPLICATIONS... October 28, 2014

Ride home.

We left the hospital and headed for Bes' car. I was in a wheelchair being pushed to the car and I noticed my eye was getting worse again. The swelling was starting to come back even more. I had asked the nurse that was pushing me out if I should be worried about my eye. He said that its normal to have a little more swelling as you leave because I'm now off steroids which made a lot of sense. The steroids helped keep the swelling down. I took his word for it and off we went.

 Its about 40 minutes to Bes' house. During the ride, I'm starting to feel worse and worse. My eye is getting more swollen. I just sit in the back with my eyes closed.  I CANNOT wait to get there.

When we get back to the house, I am feeling so bad that I go upstairs and strait to bed. I don't even take the shower. I didn't eat either. Later, my mom brought food up to me. I ate and then tried to go back to sleep. I kept taking my pain meds, but it wasn't getting any better.

Getting worse, not better.

At 6 a.m., I text my mom in the other room and told her we needed to go back to the hospital.

No more waiting around. Something isn't right.

I should not be feeling this bad, six days out of surgery, when I had never felt this bad any of the days prior. My face was so swollen. It was spreading to my other eye and it was also going down my neck and past my collarbone. I can't even explain how I felt. Never I have a felt this way in my life.

Once we got a hold of one of the NPs she said we can head in to Dr. Kassam's office.  My eyes are closed the whole ride. I can't wait to get back to the hospital. I have a sweatshirt on and the hood is over my head.  I'm put in a wheelchair and we go to the elevator to get up to the doctor's office.

The elevator took FOREVER!

Then, we got lost. The doctor's clinic is being remodeled, so he was on a completely different floor. By the time we got to the clinic I was gonna lose it. I was so miserable. First, the nurse came in to see me and took my vitals. I had a bit of a temperature and I was relieved. I felt like that meant something was wrong and they wouldn't just send me home.

The most horrific photo of myself. 

Feeling horrible and never looked worse in my life. 

Amazed that you can go from 

looking like this to normal again. 

The body is amazing. 

Knock me out, do anything! I am in so much pain!

Doctor Kassam came in, he took one look at me and said readmit her.

Thank the Lord!

I'm brought back down to the neuro-ICU. My room was still open, so I was put back in there. They hooked me up to steroids, antibiotics and pain meds right away.

After an hour or two, I started feeling much better.  Dr. Kassam came in to check on me a little bit later. Afterwards, outside of my room, he was talking to another doctor. He told him that something wasn't right and his "spidey-senses" were kicking in. He wanted to bring me back into the OR in the morning and see whats going on. I was okay with that because I just wanted relief.

I was in his hands and at this point I felt like he was the only person able to save me.

Surgery #2! October 23 2014

Alright...surgery day!

We had the same routine as last time. Went down to Milwaukee and stayed at my Aunt's house. The night before surgery I had different tests done...MRI, blood work, all the pre-surgery stuff. I had to do my normal shower with the same soap scrub as I had used the time before. This time though, there was no hair to wash! I went to bed in my clean sheets and pajamas. In the morning I showered again and then I put on some clean clothes. Off to the hospital we went.

Our before surgery pic

I went though the same check in.  Weight, blood pressure, pregnancy test, scrub down with the wipes and put a gown on. She asked all the same crazy questions. I was hooked up to an IV again. This time, I told them we have a hard time getting the IV's in. By now I've figured out that the IV's used for surgeries are bigger and that's why they have a hard time getting them in my veins. I get an IV for dye injections during MRIs and we never have a problem getting those in. I also have my chemo port too. That is used for my IV's sometimes and it makes things easier because then my arms aren't full of IVs. The lady from the neurology team came and hooked up the wires to my arms, legs and chest again.

Then it was time to wait for the operating team to come and get me.

The nurses were the same ones I had the surgery before! All so nice. Usually, I get wheeled up to a waiting room just outside the OR as they do the final prep in the room before they are ready for me. It usually doesn't take too long and they give me some sort of med to start relaxing me.

In I go- to the operating room again, and now that I know the drill, it makes things a lot easier. I hop from the bed I'm on, onto the operating table. Untie the back of my gown. Put my head in the little cradle. This time, the anesthesiologist gave me the calming med, but I stayed alert a bit longer. I was chatting with all the nurses for a while. One nurse, I found out, vacations in the same town as I in Florida! I had a gas mask on, too. This is when I took a few deep breaths and out I went...

The ICU

...I woke and was back in my room. The neuro-ICU was a nice big room and one wall was made of glass and it had big curtains to cover it if I wanted.

I was groggy, of course. Could barely open my eyes. But my throat felt much better this time after surgery. I didn't have such a dry mouth and my stomach was feeling okay. My incision was covered with gauze. I had two tubes coming out of it and at the end of the tubes there were little bulbs. The bulbs were squeezed and it would suck out excess fluid. It didn't hurt at all, but I could feel pressure and hear fluid moving around as it happened.

I also had a 5 inch fat graft on my stomach. The fat was used to fill in areas of my brain. I had a muscle in my head flipped around to fill in areas where the tumor was, too. My mouth had a hard time opening. I didn't know going into it, but my jaw was taken apart to remove the tumor and put back together with titanium. The area around my eye was also put back together with titanium. They had to remove tumor from my jaw area, near my eye and nasal cavity. All was removed except for a little bit on my carotid artery. They couldn't risk getting any closer to the artery. My eye and right side of my face was getting more and more swollen by the minute. The eye was also turning black and blue. A few hours after surgery I couldn't see out of that eye, it was completely swollen shut. I looked horrible!

After surgery, before the
swelling kicked in

When it came time for me to eat, I struggled. The entire right side in my mouth was numb. I couldn't feel food in there and my teeth did not line up right in my mouth anymore. My jaw was a lot looser then it used to be.  I started eating only on the left side. I had to chew very slow. And the food needed to be soft because my jaw wasn't strong enough to bite down and my mouth only opened a little bit. It was a whole new learning process for me.

After surgery

That night, as I was trying to sleep (only on my back and on an incline) the right side of my face was going crazy. The feelings were so intense I thought it was hurting. The nurse was giving me pain meds for it, but that wasn't doing anything to help it. The next day when my NP came in I explained it to her. The only way I could explain it was that my face was going crazy. It felt like it was moving on that side. She said "kind of like spiders crawling on it?" Yes! That's exactly it. It feels like the tingles when your foot falls asleep and  spiders were crawling all over it. The reason for all of this is my trigeminal nerve was cut. The trigeminal nerve branches off from near your ear through the entire side of your face. Since it was cut, the nerves are trying to heal and that's why I had the crazy feelings and it takes time for that to go away. I was put on a med that were going to help my nerves calm down, but it was going to take a few days to start working. That was probably the hardest thing to deal with in the beginning. It was so intense that at times I could do nothing, but lay there and close my eyes. Or try to sleep to pass the time until the pills kicked in.

After it started opening 

The black and blue eye along with the drain tubes

I was also very worried about my eye. It was SO big and swollen, I didn't see how it was ever going to go back to normal. It was completely shut for a few days and then it slowly started opening. Each day it opened a drop more but it was still big and swollen along with that side of my face.  The doctors and NP's knew I was so worried about it so they sent in an eye doctor to take a look at it. He also believed that over time it would get better. I sure hoped so! The black and blue started to leave and my eye was turning pink. It was opening more around day 4 or 5 but the lid was still huge and dry. Eyelids are such delicate skin that I couldn't see how being so stretched and dry was any good for it.

How could it possibly look normal again someday?

I had double vision when I tried to see out of it so it was much easier to keep it closed for now. I was so homely looking!! There was nothing cute about my face. LOL!

People wanted to be coming to visit me but unless I was close to them I really didn't feel comfortable having them in there. I know I looked scary and the world didn't need to see me like that!

Fat graft on my stomach

After a day, the gauze was taken off so that the incision on my head could get air. The gauze was held down with little staples. The top was no problem getting the staples out, my head is numb so I can't feel it. The side near my ear ,I could feel, and the staples weren't fun coming out!

I also had gauze on the fat graft on my stomach. So the staples had to come out of there too! I wish the gauze had tape on it and not staples.  The nurses did a great job, but one was stuck on my stomach. The nurses kept working on it and no one could get it out. It was hurting, too! My NP came in shortly after to check on me and she got it out in no time.

I had little scabs all over my head. I was told, once they open you up, the scalp is pulled forward and pinned to your forehead to keep it out of the way as they work. The skull bone removed is called a bone flap. They then put it back in place with some screws after the surgery is over.

A few days after surgery

 The drain tubes came out after a few days. I was really nervous about them being pulled out. I asked for a mirror so I could watch as they pulled them out. I liked watching as things happened so I could be prepared.  When the first one came out, I didn't even feel it! The next one, as they pulled it out, was getting stuck on a stitch. Since my head was numb, it didn't hurt. I could just tell it was stuck. After a little bit of working on it, they got it out. Now the two holes where the tubes were need to be stapled shut. I had two staples put in each hole. I was nervous for this part again and a nurse asked me to hold her hand while another put the staples in.

I could hear the staples crunching as they went into my skull but no pain at all! The joys of a numb head!!

The first morning after surgery, I was asked to get out of bed. They wanted me to get up and try to walk. The ICU is a big circle. All of the rooms were along the outside with glass windows. The center of the room was the nurses station. I walked a little ways down the room. In the other rooms I saw patients that were completely out with tubes down their throat. I didn't see anyone else in there alert like me. I had a hard time seeing, though, because of my swollen eye, so  I didn't go far.

But at least I was up and at it.

My nurse had told me that if I felt like people were staring at me (which I did, but I figured it was because I looked like shit) it's because it's not common to see a patient walking in the neuro-ICU. So, the fact that I was up walking around was amazing to them. I had asked what most people were in there for. She said a lot had brain injuries. Some from strokes, tumors or accidents. It was really sad to see them. Some were young and others old. The younger people were definitely the hardest to see.

The day of surgery I had the catheter in. After that, there was a toilet in my room that swung out from under the sink. But I wasn't allowed to leave my bed without a nurse being there. My bed had an alarm on it. So, to use the toilet I needed to call the nurse and she had to stay in the room with me.

It was hard for me to accept not having my privacy. The only other option I had was going to the bathroom on the other side of the ICU.

So that is where I went!

I called my nurse, we unhooked all the machines, she walked with me to the bathroom and then stood on the outside of the door while I used it. I was not allowed to lock the door, though. One nurse I had, she would not let me go in there by myself. She insisted that she had to be with me.

That was in the morning and it put her on my bad list for the rest of the day! I could not wait until shift change.

I had so many nurses and almost all were great. A few I became really close with and many of them I had numerous times while I was there. It was always a nice surprise when they would walk in and I saw I would be spending another day with them.

I never was able to shower in the ICU. They don't have any in there. I had cleansing wipes that I'd use. I had a lot of the yellowish orange antibacterial scrub all over me still. Dried blood, too. It felt great to get that off. I also put a bit of mascara on my good eye and chapstick on.  It helped me feel a little more like myself.

Having no hair, a huge incision across my head and a swollen face...I definitely felt I looked nothing like my normal self.

After five days in the hospital, I was cleared by the physical therapist, occupational therapist and speech therapist. My eye swelling was getting better and all of my scans were looking good. They told me I was able to leave later that day.

It was exciting, but it felt so crazy knowing I was able to get out of the hospital already! I had to stay in Milwaukee for about a week. I had more appointments to be there for and needed to be near the hospital just in case we had a problem. So, about 5 o'clock that day, I put my clothes on for the first time in five days, wrapped a scarf loosely around my head and away we went!

I couldn't wait to get back to Bes' house and take a shower!

My brother took this photo. I covered my bad eye, but you could tell things were looking up! Leaving in a day!