One Month Post-Surgery--Update and Photos

Sorry I've been a bit lax in the last week. There wasn't a whole lot to report, and with the holiday and my birthday, I was busy with other things! Yep, I turned 29...not the perpetual 29 but for real 29. I think 29 is going to be a good year for me. I have high hopes.

Anyway, I took some photos for an update, so you can see how things are healing. These were taken today so it was about 4 1/2 weeks post-surgery.

This first photo shows the battery and the incisions on my neck. As you can see, the battery does stick out quite a bit...more than I had hoped. But it doesn't show through clothing or anything...unless you wear something skin-tight, I suppose but I'm just not that type of girl. The incisions on my neck are still fairly red but they cover up pretty well with a little makeup. They aren't nearly as protruding as the were a few weeks ago. The one on the left hurt last week, I'm not sure why. Any time I turned my head it gave me a sharp pain. So I was back on painkillers for a few days for that but it seems to be fine. Maybe something tore loose a little? I have no idea.

I know this photo is blurry but my digital camera is smarter than me and I just can't get it to focus on things really close sometimes. I took this photo with my head turned, to show you how the wire is tight on my right side like I've been talking about. I spoke to my doctor about it and was assured they can fix that but the problem is that I have to go back to Chicago for that and that won't be happening anytime soon, unfortunately, so for now I just have to deal with it. Thank goodness for my anti-anxiety pills!

This photo is to show you what the incision sites look like. Both side of my head look basically the same. You can see I still have long hair in front of my ears so you really can't see this unless my hair is pulled back. And no, my neck isn't really that fat and bulging, it just looks weird because I have my head turned in this photo. I also don't dye my hair but you wouldn't think it to look at this photo!

And finally, an up-close of a head incision. Again...I have focus issues.

And that's about it. There are no other incisions or anything to show. The incision sites are still a bit tender, and I still have some lumps on my head which I'm assuming are hematomas, but they are getting smaller (very slowly). I tried to photograph those but it didn't work out.

I had a bad headache on Sunday but now that I seem to have most of the programming on this thing figured out, I got rid of it pretty quickly. I'm a bit disappointed that relief isn't immediate when you turn the stimulator on but it's still a million times better than taking a bunch of prescriptions and having all those side effects. I'd say it still takes me a couple hours to really feel truly better, but I think I may get quicker relief as time goes on and I use this stimulator more and as I get other little tricks figured out.

Oh, and I got my official medical card to put in my wallet to warn people that I have an official reason for setting off metal detectors. Watch out Wal-Mart, here I come! Muwahahahaha! (That was my evil laugh, by the way...these things just don't come across so well in writing!)