September 24 :: eight week update

My daily headaches continue to be pretty much non-existent. My neck gets sore if I don't take the time to rest it during the day, so our travel day to Canada was a bit tough. We woke the kids up at 3:30am and even though my parents were travelling with me (Shaun will join us in Canada in a couple weeks) and made my life SO much easier, K and E were tired and still wanted their momma. However, my discomfort was significantly more tolerable than any trip I've ever taken.

The biggest changes this week is the zapping has been more frequent and more aggressive. It isn't very painful, just makes me jump. Again, this is a really good sign because it means the nerves are waking up.

Brushing my hair is such an important part of my healing regime, but its been really hard to tolerate the last few days. My scalp is super sensitive. Before it was just sensitive near my incisions and at the base of my skull, but now even brushing the top and sides of my head makes me wince.  Before my surgery, both my neurologist and my surgeon told me they wanted me to gain weight.  The reason for this is that nerves like fat. Fat surrounds the nerves and gives them padding and protection.  They explained that when thin people have this surgery they often have a more difficult time with recovery because they don't have as much cushion around the nerve and therefore its more sensitive when you touch your head. Up until this point I didn't have much of an issue, but this week as the numbness in the back of my head continues to slowly wear off, I am noticing that massaging my scalp and brushing my hair has been harder to tolerate. Last week I got frustrated with this (especially because I was still only allowed to use baby shampoo which doesn't help a lot with tangling), so I went to my hairdresser and told him to cut it all off. And he did.

xx