Day #7 - VNS Surgery Recovery ( & All the Delicious Details of the Days Leading Up to)

Photo called "Hope is Burning" by Amanda Krzywonski (me).


If you have read my first blog, you know three things. You know about my difficult struggle with Epilepsy. You know about my choice to try VNS Therapy. And lastly, you know how much of a horrible blogger/writer I am.

Today is day number siete or seven of my VNS implant surgery recovery. Isn't that a mouthful to say? I am blogging about this because I know there are tons of other curious people who are contemplating this form of treatment for their Epilepsy.

On May 5th (seven days ago) I went in for the device implantation surgery. I will not be sugar-coating anything, whatsoever, in my blogs so I will go right out and say that the surgery was the WORST experience that I have gone through in my life. I have had many horrible things done in hospitals, believe me. Now I don't mean to scare you off, because it very well could have been the anesthetics. When I got out of surgery my voice was very hoarse, and almost gone completely. This bothered me a lot at first but toward the end of the day it got better. The worst of the after-effects was that I literally could not sit, stand, eat or even drink - without vomiting. The nausea was the worst of its kind. I resorted to this by sleeping for an entire two days. I recommend that you do not try to eat at all for the rest of that day and only sip small amounts of water or ice chips afterward. And PLEASE, listen to me if you are seriously considering this surgery. Eat only soup
and a few crackers for a few days afterward. This means no pizza, pot roast, cupcakes, cookies, etc. You will have difficulty urinating and
having a bowel movement. I recommended eat fruits when you are ready, and Fiber Choice tablets are great.You must try to go to the
bathroom or you will feel very bloated or "stuffed" in the abdomen to the point where it might be unbearable. After you have gotten over
these things (about 3 days) you really only need to rest. You can shower after 2 or 3 days depending on your scars. Don't turn your neck
too far, lift or tilt your head back, or extend your left arms too far. It will hurt and you can damage your vagus nerve. Today is day seven
for me. I can eat again and go to the bathroom perfectly! :) I am not sure if I should have, but I went out for a walk and did about 30
minutes of cardio. I am struggling with my weight due to my medications. I am currently taking Vimpat, Trileptal, and Seroquel. I have
literally gained 6 lbs since the surgery. I am not sure how that is possible but it happened. My advice from a friend is to carefully start lifting
5 lb weights around the 4th day to burn calories and help your arms and the muscles surrounding. STOP immediately if you feel too much
pain and wait a while. I am generally feeling good today except for some exhaustion from the medication and a slight pain in my neck. I can
feel where the lead is connected to my vagus nerve and its tugging very hard when I move my neck in any way. So I'm trying hard to be
careful. I'm worried that this pain isn't normal considering I couldn't feel anything under the incision until now... but I will get back to you on
that. Tomorrow I am going to get my device turned on around noon, and you can count on me to blog about how it feels and the side
effects that are most noticeable.
I feel a little stupid for worrying about fashion when it comes to the VNS magnet that you have to wear on your wrist to activate and alter
the VNS settings... but I am. You will notice that in the "goodie box" that you receive after surgery, they give you two magnets. One
magnet comes with a horribly ugly black strap that is basically a double wrap around black piece of fabric with velcro on the other side. The
other magnet has a clip on piece so you can keep it on your belt or pretty much wherever. I thought the clip-on piece was quite nice, but I
had to do something about that ugly black strap. I found a GREAT site for some high-quality watch straps. Some are waterproof as well
which is great. I purchased a floral designed strap. These straps also use velcro but I have found them to be much tougher. A lot of athletes
hikers, and tons of famous sportsmen use them simply because they are invincible. They just don't fall off. The band is called "THE BAND".
Go figure. It's made by Chums. Check it out!

I'll get back to you all tomorrow about how I'm feeling after my VNS gets activated! Sweet dreams :)