Road to Recovery

Hello to all of you! I am so sorry that it has taken me a while to respond to your emails and phone calls. I have been at the hospital except to come to our room and shower since Thursday. I appreciate so much all of the messages and letters of concern and all of your prayers on our behalf. On Thursday 1/22 Wez went in for his surgery. The procedure is called micro vascular decompression surgery in case you didn’t already know. He went in at about 10 a.m. and came out at about 2:30 p.m. His Dr. was Dr. Jannetta here at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. The surgery entails of making an incision at the base of his brain stem where the trigeminal nerve begins. They drill a hole about ½ an inch in length and width and go in to find the cause of his trigeminal neuralgia. The results for Wez were that they found a vein as well as an artery pressing directly on 2 different sections of his trigeminal nerve. They were able to put 2 Teflon plates in that will be a barrier between the nerve and the vessels. As far as the surgery goes, it went very well. They covered the opening in his skull with titanium mesh and then stitched him up.

The first night after the surgery was very difficult. He was in recovery until they got him a room at about 6 p.m. That evening he was in agonizing pain which we found out at about 3 a.m., was due to swelling in the lining of his brain as well as air that was trapped in during surgery. They did a CAT scan to confirm the diagnosis and then gave him steroids at about 4 a.m. to help with the swelling. At about 7 a.m. one of his doctors arrived and performed a lumbar puncture to relieve more pressure. That helped quite a bit and Wez was finally able to sleep for the first time since coming out of surgery. The doctor said about 1 out of 20 people that have this procedure end up with this problem.

Slowly, Wez began to have a bit more relief. He stayed in the hospital until late Sunday afternoon when they decided to release him. He is still in quite a bit of pain form the surgery and has a lot of nausea. Both are to be expected with this type of surgery. Dr. Jannetta has said to still expect some face pain for a week or so due to the fact that he has had these vessels rubbing on his nerve for so many years. The nerves retain memory of the trauma and take a little bit of time to begin healing. When I asked Wez what he thought about his face pain he said he can tell a difference but it is hard to say for sure how much because he is in so much pain from the surgery.

Today Wez’s parents left to return home but Wez and I have remained here in Pittsburgh. We are staying at Allegheny center which is an apartment that works with the hospital for people here for extended periods of time. Wez will have his post-op visit with Dr. Janetta tomorrow, 1/27 at 8:30. If all goes well and he is cleared to fly home we will be leaving to return to Nashville Wednesday. American Airlines has been very helpful and will have a wheel chair as well as assistance for us from here back home. Wez’s expected recovery time will be 4 -6 weeks.

I truly don’t know how to even begin to thank each and every one of you for your love and concern for us. The outpouring of compassion and prayers on our behalf has been overwhelming. With out all of your financial support and prayers we would not be here now. I hope and pray that some day I will have the opportunity to do what you all have done for us, for someone else in need. Please continue to pray for Wez to have a speedy recovery and a safe trip home. Our God is an amazing God. This has been a hard road for the both of us but through it we have learned what it truly means to “give it to God.” I will continue to keep everyone updated and feel free to call or email me. I will do my very best to answer any questions you may have. Again thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:4-7 NIV


Rachel Bezuidenhout