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!