Migraine Surgery Update!

Here's the update that you all may (or may not) have been waiting for! I had nerve decompression surgery on April 16, and let me tell you, it's been a month. My procedure went beautifully and my surgeon, Dr. Lowenstein, said that as a patient, I really needed this. He said that there was, "a lot of crap in there, but we got it all", which later my parents would tell me that I had some of the most blood vessel clumps on my nerves as Dr. L had ever seen. I also had lymph nodes and fascia pressing on my nerves as well, so the surgery was warranted. Typically during surgery, when Dr. Lowenstein releases the pressure on a nerve, the blood flow almost instantly returns and the nerve becomes plump and happy again. In my case, he said that only when he was about to close me up after being done with the whole procedure did my nerves just barely start to come back to life. My nerves were so compressed that they were completely flat.

Recovery wasn't fun, but it definitely wasn't the worst pain I've experienced. I had 16 staples closing up the big incision and small, dissolvable sutures closing up the two little incisions. The entire back of my head was numb, which was weird when laying down and resting (yes, I was allowed to lie on my back as soon as I wanted after surgery, which was crazy). For the first few days, the only real pain I felt was in my neck- I described it as feeling like I had been in a car accident or had gotten hit by a bus. It makes sense that I had so much neck pain because I was placed in quite a wonky position for several hours during the surgery. I was intubated (had a breathing tube) and lying on my stomach, with a lot of pressure on my chin and cheekbones. I was asleep by the time they moved me into my surgery position but I woke up with what felt like a bruised chin, so I can only imagine how wild it got!

April 16, after surgery

4/16 surgical site

4/17, after showering

The general discomfort that I felt for the first couple weeks wasn't too bad, but I was having a hard time getting comfortable enough to fall asleep. There was minimal to no migraine pain though! I kept waiting for the rouse to be up and that a migraine was coming my way, but one never really did. That was amazing. There were a few moments where the emotional weight of it all led to some tears, but I think it was a release of nerves and anxiety and not sadness.

Here's (an almost) Day-by-Day update of how my incision healed:

April 19

April 21

April 22

April 24

April 25

April 26

April 27

April 29

April 28

May 2

May 3 (pre-removal)

May 3 (post-removal)

May 5

May 17

April 24

In some pictures it gets pretty crusty and dandruff-y so I apologize, and no judging the condition of my scalp!!

On May 2nd my staples were removed and I was told to take it easy still (no working out/intensity levels above breaking a sweat). Dr. L emphasized that even though my incision is pretty much healed on the outside, the nerves are still healing and I won't be fully healed possibly up until a year after my surgery. As the nerves reestablish themselves I may have zinging sharp pain shoot through my head (I have had several... they hurt but are gone pretty quickly). He said to expect bad days and healing will take me through some ups and downs, but he's really confident that this is going to change my life.

In the time since my surgery, I've had only a few headaches whose pain level pales in comparison to what I was experiencing a couple of months ago. I'll either take Tylenol or eat a snack (or both) and the pain seems to subside. Safe to say that I am over the moon! Below are some funny pictures pre and post-surgery, being dramatic over my hair, and a little video of the moment I said goodbye to some of it.

The surgery fit

After getting shaved

Waking up after surgery

Here I am in my surgery garb looking fabulous... as you can see the anti-anxiety meds are starting to take effect. In the last photo, I am clearly thriving post-surgery with crackers and apple juice. See those marks on my face?? I was a happy and smiley patient post-op though! The nurses and Dr. L kept smiling and laughing at me because I had that funny smile on my face and with high spirits after waking up. They said I was the happiest patient they've helped post-anesthesia. 😁

A couple of clips of my little spot getting shaved... this was probably the most painful part! At the end of the first clip, Dr. L grabs scissors to cut my hair short before shaving. "You've got a lot of hair, kid" is what I think he said to me.