And then this one time...

...I kicked brain surgery's ass.

All who know me well know that I have issues feeling genuinely good about myself much of the time, giving myself sufficient credit, and that type of thing. In this situation however, I feel like a fuckin' rockstar.

I was discharged from the hospital this afternoon -- one day later than "expected," but still only 4 days post-op which still seems insanely fast to me. After feeling pretty lightheaded and nauseated this morning (more so than yesterday), I slept for several hours in the hospital this morning and, upon getting home, attempted to pass out on the couch but simply didn't want to -- I've been home since about 1:45 (it's nearly 8 now) and have been up and active the entire time! I keep saying (like, over and over and over again) that I can't believe how good I feel -- my incision site hurts, I still have limited - though improving - neck and head mobility, my shoulders and hips are aching from lying on my sides almost exclusively for the last 4 1/2 days (incision is right on the back of my head so I've been trying to avoid lying flat on my back), and I'm still pretty lightheaded and weak and battling random bouts of nausea... but that's it. That looks like kind of a long list when I write it out, but I had f-ing brain surgery 4 days ago and those are my only complaints...? So kickass. It's looking almost certain that, assuming everything stays on the course it's on now, I won't need any physical therapy -- I was initially told to expect a minimum of a month, and now, nada. I'm walking completely on my own, fully assistance-free right now, and I'm surprisingly balanced. I'm still a bit dizzy off and on, and have to really focus on the movements of walking (as in, it's kind of hard to have a conversation or look at something while walking), and notice a little more difficulty turning corners, and definitely some issues picking anything up off the floor, but other than that, no physical issues at all. Right now, it's pain management (decent, though I learned quickly that Lortab is the shit and was legit sad when they took me off of it... nothing else works as well as that does!), regaining energy, and working on doing some hella uncomfortable neck exercises, and catching up on sleep.

I'm working on a full, epic-detailed post about the past 5 days, but I'm just now starting to feel the tiredness kick in and my pain meds are starting to wear off, so I think I'm going to go take a valium (yeah, they sent me home with that shit!) and sleep very, very well tonight.

For the record, I have been absolutely, indescribably overwhelmed with love and support over the past five days -- people I know well, people I know vaguely, people I've never met before. I'm amazed and in awe and lucky on so many levels. For someone who typically explodes with overly descriptive verboseness, I'm pretty much speechless about the sheer volume of support -- love, love, love!