Post Perotidectomy

So I have hit the one week mark and decided I needed to update. I do this not to bring on attention to me or sympathy, but more for other people to reference that are or will be going through the same thing. It was really frustrating when I was trying to find real life experiences prior to surgery to give me an idea of what to expect.  All I could find was scientific articles or pictures of the surgery.....DO NOT look at surgery pics, they will freak you out!  I wanted info about the incision, the recovery, the pain, possible complications, etc. so let me recap my one week experience.

Immediately after surgery, I felt pretty good... There was some very localized pain, so I took Lortab as prescribed by my doctor. I came out of surgery with absolutely no nausea! This was my first experience with general anesthesia and I was nervous about getting sick afterwards based on what I've heard from other people.  My anesthesiologist was amazing! He was surprised that, at age 41, I had never "gone under" for any surgery.  He was fantastic and I bounced back from it quickly after surgery. 

Here is the part that caused the pain....the drain! The vials on the drain were vacuumed sealed, so they really did draw out the blood and fluids from the incision and when it did, boy was it painful! So my first 24 hours was mostly pain management from the drain. I was pretty coherent and felt good other than being tired. Here is a picture of my incision with the drain immediately after surgery. You can see the drain tube coming out at the bottom of the tape. The drain tube was taped to my chest.

You can see that it looks a little messy, but the tape is all that they used to cover the incision! I was expecting to come out of surgery looking like a q-tip, but was pleasantly surprised that the bandage was minimal....and my hair covers most of it!

After the drain was removed the next day, I felt great! I switched to using ibuprofen only and aside from feeling tired, there were really no other effects.  The pain was minimal.  

Let me be real with you and tell you some of the emotional side effects I face. To me, these are very different to experience than the physical side effects. I came out of the surgery with some facial paralysis. I do not have control of my left eye and brow. My left side of my mouth has some limited movement as well. I have been told that this is temporary and I have to have faith that it is, but it is a little worrisome to me! Luckily, my Dr. told me that my case is mild compared to others he's seen. I can blink my eye, but can not shut it tightly. I can not lift my eyebrow, and my smile is lopsided. At the end of the day, my left eye is tired and waters profusely. I also bit the left side of my lip the other day when I was eating, I assume from lack of muscle control to keep it out of the way, lol!  I do not consider myself a vain person, but I think anyone would become a little self conscious when you face is suddenly altered.  I have to get over it and work through the emotions because I have a job where I interact with the public everyday, so as of tomorrow, I will be back to work, lopsided smile or not!

Another note, my left ear is completely numb.  They have to cut the nerve to the ear in order to do the surgery.  This is incredibly annoying! It feels like there is a foreign object on the side of my head and is uncomfortable to touch, lay on, or even brush my hair. I was told that it could take up to a year to gain feeling back into my ear. My hearing is unaffected and really, what do you need to feel with your ear anyway, right?

Today is the one week mark, and I think my nerves are starting to mend. The reason I think this is because it hurts!, I've had minimal pain, but now I think it was because my nerves were not working! Now they are starting to work again and I am feeling some pain. Nothing horrible, but worse than any other day I've had so far. 

Lastly, the best news about this whole procedure is that the tumor was benign! No cancer! I can not begin to tell you how thankful I am for that! It is such a relief! I am humbled and grateful when I think about all the people that have offered prayers for that outcome and a quick recovery. I do believe in the power of prayers and believe that they did contribute to an easy post-op recovery so far. Thank you!