I had my follow-up appointment with my neurosurgeon on the 24th of January. The visit itself didn't unsettle me - he was relaxed, approachable, at ease - sat down even, and would have answered questions for as long as I had them. Quite a contrast from the first time I met him.

No, the visit went fine - he even slipped in that it would take me up to three years to feel 100% normal, and I was okay with that as he also said in a couple of months, I'd be 90 - 95% normal.

It wasn't until the drive home, where I read to the hubby who was driving the written explanation of what was done during my surgery.

I quote: "I was able to separate the acoustic neuroma carefully from the facial nerve, which had been identified visually and by stimulation. I separated it first from the area of the facial nerve in the internal auditory canal. I next looked at the medial extent of the tumor, and I was able to identify the facial nerve along the anterior aspect of the tumor capsule. I could stimulate the nerve at the brainstem. By careful grasping of the tumor and elevating this, and a subarachnoid dissection of the arachnoid plane around the tumor, I was able to separate the tumor completely in two pieces from the 7th and 8th cranial nerve complex. The facial nerve was visibly intact."

Excuse me? The tumor was mostly on my facial nerve?

I have world class doctors. I have absolutely NO facial malfunction AT ALL. And since most of the tumor was on my facial nerve...OMG.

So that's what I've been coming to terms with. Give me another week or two to come back to earth.

L'chaim!