An Apology and The Worst Day Yet

First, I apologize for the absence of a post yesterday (Thursday 2/12). So this post will combine two days.

THURSDAY - THE ABSOLUTE WORST DAY YET.
I promised that I would chronicle this journey as accurately as possible & not sugar coat...
Thursday did not start off well as Wednesday night did not go well. Kathy has been unable to really sleep since surgery day (really since we were diagnosed weeks ago) and went into surgery with a two day headache. Of course with brain surgery you would expect a hefty headache for awhile. What you would not expect is for it to get increasingly worse. And that's what has been happening. And then POW it REALLY gets worse. I'll spare you all the adjectives...Kathy spent part of the day curled up in crying agony. Now, I know from experience that I can handle A LOT of adversity, even danger but I have to tell you there is nothing like watching the woman you love in this state and then hearing these words... "Am I dieing?" I'm dieing and you're not telling me" Ouch! There is no way either of us have earned this kind of bad karma.
So now we have two neurologists, an ear surgeon a neurosurgeon, a nurse and me trying to figure out what's going wrong here & going wrong fast.
There is no sign of increased cranial pressure, no sign of spinal fluid leakage. Could it be stroke? meningitis? encephalitis? Out of control migraine? The pressure bandage over the incision?
All of or none of the above? Holy ____!
Here is what's interesting in this scene...titles, degrees, status whatever, it's all gone. What we have here is six people all dedicated to helping (saving?) my wife. We all talk, throw out ideas, discuss, we all listen. So we decide to draw blood to rule out infection & go with the 'out of control migraine plus other contributing things theory.
So now starts 'the chase' to find the right treatment. Three different pain meds fail (including one the hospital was out of that I had to get from a CVS pharmacy). This is like all the rides at Cedar Point combined. Can you imagine I had to leave my suffering wife to go pick up a Rx? All the way hoping the pharmacy wasn't back up? Armed combat is starting to look less stressful.
Well nothing really worked (even 5 mg of Ambien) but we finally got Kathy calmed down enough for me to get a few hours of shuteye.

FRIDAY -180 DEGREES IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Kathy calls at 6am so I'm off to hospital. Ambien worked till 2am then the pain took over .
Thankfully the Doc's have already conferred (blood work was OK) so we stay with the migraine theory, decide to add steroids and later take the dreaded pressure bandage off.
HE MUST BE UP THERE!
Two hours after first IV of steroids AND bandage off we have our first smile. Pain is now a 7 of 10, hour later 4 of 10 and nausea is almost gone.
Not out of the woods yet, but at least the woods are not on fire.
To summarize the rest of the day (it's almost one AM and I'm fading fast):
We are back on schedule, still some pain & nausea but eating, walking, smiling.
We had two successful walks about 30 feet each, a shower, a lot more calories AND went up & down FIVE steps!
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY CAN MAKE!
COULD SHE BE HOME TOMORROW?
HOLY WHATEVER I'VE GOT A HOUSE TO CLEAN!!

PS; To anyone out there that has AN & is following all this ...we have been told by MANY people (doctors & nurses included) that it is RARELY this hard so don't despair.

PS I'm too tired to cook Chinese tonight so Lucycat will be here for Kathy's homecoming.