FEB 8th, 2013 Day of Surgery at USC

I don't even know where to begin.. Feb. 7th, I rode to California with my sister Erin, brother in law Kevin and my little nephew Wyatt.  We drove to Long Beach, California to have dinner and meet my parents who drove from AZ to meet us. I am so thankful they were all able to be by my side. I love my family so much! That evening we stayed in a hotel where I received a couple amazing gifts. I had previously given my mom about 50 Crown Royal bags and asked her to make me a quilt. She had rushed the quilt along after I was diagnosed in November. She presented the quilt to me in the hotel that evening. I also received a cane as a gag gift from my amazing friend Joanne which later came in handy. I couldn't sleep that evening knowing what life changing event I was about to experience the next morning. I think my surgery was scheduled for 8am and we had to be to USC at 5am. In the waiting room I spent that time with my family. I remember teaching my nephew Wyatt who was about 21 months old at the time to drink from a water fountain. My name was called, I hugged everyone and was escorted into surgery prep. The roller coaster of emotions were out of control but I manged to remain calm. I was prepped for surgery and escorted for a MRI. I was so tired I kept falling asleep and twitching in the MRI tube which made it difficult to capture the images. After my MRI I was escorted back to surgery prep where I was able to hug my parents one last time. Extremely tough! I was administered an IV and began to fall asleep. I remember being rolled into surgery, lifted onto an operating table, my head was strapped into a holding device and I was out cold. I woke up about 6 hours later in ICU with my parents looking down on me. Feeling happy I made it through surgery. I had so much head pressure, an extremely sore side, dry mouth and a sore throat. That evening I remember being uncomfortable, no sleep, mom feeding me ice chips, and a upset stomach. Dad at one point tried to whisper in my left ear which I faintly remember hearing something. That slowly faded throughout the night, by the next day I had lost my hearing completely in my left ear. I was developing extreme tinnitus which I was told is normal.