After surgery

Since surgery, I have been feeling dizzy, a little squishy on top, and light headed. Not bad tho, since I was just through brain surgery :) It is crazy how much I just went through :) They made it seem like sum big ordeal but it wasn't really any big deal. Everyone made such a big deal out of nothing. It was crazy. Brain surgery wasn't all that bad! I have been remembering almost everything :) I am lucky I hear tho, alot of my brain buddies havent been so lucky with that. I am very lucky to be alive and I know from here on out, I will enjoy my life and do everything in my power to enjoy it with every thing I have :)

Surgery August 20th

Hello All :) Thought I would finally update my page :) I have been doing very well! My thought processes have been very thorough!! :) I am doing well, just taking my meds like I am supposed to. I am on Dexamethasone, Oxycodine and Docquolace. The first one is a steroid, then a pain reliever and then a stool softener (i could have prolly left the last one out lol)
its ok though. Same thing! :) LOL I will prolly repeat myself throughout this blog! :P Surgery was scheduled for 7am Monday morning. However, when I got there at 5:30am they told me I would have to wait a while to get into surgery. Since I had to have an MRI first. I was so mad, but nothing I could do about it. LOL. They then told me that I wasn't even supposed to be there until 7am. I was upset, but nothing I could really do about it then and there. Oh well. I was admitted to my room about 6:30am, then my mom and Dad came about 7:00am. I got dressed (or undressed) for that matter and was ready by 6:45am. they came in about 7:15am and wheeled me off for my MRI. I was so nervous. I said my goodbyes, didn't know if I would see them before surgery. (dad, mom and Naynay were there) I got through my MRI just fine and was able to go see them before surgery :) I was so happy I got to see them again before surgery! :) i had smiles on my face :) I did have those one things on my head, they were to direct the surgeon for surgery. The placers things or whatever. it was an emotional time for me, knowing I was heading into surgery either in a couple minutes to a couple hours. I was very emotional for my mom, dad and NayNay. I knew it was emotional for them to see me go through that. I woke up about 6:00pm and heard them talking. I know they said something like let her be or something but I was avid for them to get my attention. I waved and said uh huh...They said awww, she looks so good :) Everything went good, I was alive in my own body and I was so happy that I was alive. It was a great feeling :) I loved being alive, I knew I got through the worst part of my journey, now was to recover :) that was the easiest of it all :)

My fundraising site to help with bills, medical expenses

http://www.giveforward.com/ashleysbrainsurgery

Please stop by and show your support :) Thank you. .

:) Surgery Scheduled!

So, the last blog post was kind of long. To update you in the fastest way possible, here goes lol. I found a Facebook group called "Colloid Cyst Survivors" I thought well, if anyone would know what happens, they would be it! I have fell in love with so many people from there. Most of them have had surgery, some awaiting surgery and some are on there for their loved ones. In the last two months, it has been crazy busy in my life. I had my MRI done and they found to be my Colloid Cyst was 14mm x 10mm x 12mm which sounds small, but in that area in the brain is actually very large. The radiologist referred me to Gundersen in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I had started getting really bad headaches about a week after the attack, started to get dizzy easily, even saw "stars" one time. This concerned me. I went to my appointment to Jerry Davis in La Crosse. He came into the room and basically described me what it is, and that I would need to go to either Mayo Clinic in Rochester or a hospital in Madison (I don't remember which one) to have brain surgery to have it removed. I thought to myself, wow brain surgery. I was already kind of expecting this answer because I had already done research on this blob in my brain. It is located in the third ventricle (usually always is) and it is slowly growing. It will only cause more problems the larger it gets and I really don't want to risk that. So, a couple of weeks go by and I finally get an appointment at Mayo Clinic, July 31st and August 1st. I was so nervous, I couldn't sleep the nights before. I went to the neurologist and the guy was pretty cocky, I didn't like him from the moment he stepped into the room. He asks, "What is your main question for being here today?" I just didn't like him so maybe that is why I didn't like the way he asked me that. LOL. I said well, do I have to have surgery? (I know now to never ask a question like that lol) and he said no, you will be fine with CT scans every year to make sure it doesn't grow larger. Typically he said, I wouldn't have to have surgery. I was so confused at this point because one doc says yes, as soon as you can, the next says nah, prolly never. Hmm. At this point I had befriended Brian Harms from MD (also had a colloid cyst but had his go to the emergency stage) and I was in tears as I left that office. Good old Brian wrote up a recommendation letter for me to bring with to the neurosurgery appt the next day. (Yes, they still kept my appointment the next day)
The next day came and I was so very nervous to meet the neurosurgeon. Funny cuz he asked the very same question as the guy the day before, so I was like oh great. I said my greatest concern is the size at this point to be able to be watched and scanned every year. He wasn't concerned about the size of my cyst. He gave me the benefits of waiting and watching, and the benefits and risks of the surgery itself. He said eventually though I would have to have the surgery and it might be a longer recovery because we waited too long. So, I opted for surgery. :)
These last two weeks realizing I am going forward with brain surgery is both exciting and scary. I have faith that everything will go good and I will be back to my old self (or my New self) in no time.
I am having a transcallosal craniotomy August 20th at Mayo. I am looking forward to not worrying about this tumor inside me anymore, and relieving some of my symptoms that I am having.
I did go to Rochester today and got my tooth pulled (no fun!), had to do a memory test for the surgeon to kind of have something to compare before and after surgery and finally a pre surgery class. I go back on Monday Aug 13 to see Dr. A for Pre-op! I will update more after that. :) Everything is going good :)