Tumor free is the way to be!

I'm back!!! I hurt!!! ha ha. I feel like just writing 'the end' and finishing this crazy chapter of my life. But, there is still quite a few loose ends, and I'm only 25(!) so who knows what else is in store? Back to the present...
...It's my second day at my parents home, went to my house last night to sleep and came back to make sure my mom was doing alright today ; - ) She was doing great, and made about 25 blueberry pancakes for me. I finished 3, I think. Luke ate the other 22 after getting up about 2PM.
It was really nice of Andy and Julie to write about things while I was under, but I've forgotten some things, and reading about them reminded me of them. One of the funnier things, is an impromptu, unscientific hearing test is rubbing your fingers together an inch from your ear. If you can hear it, you have hearing in this side. I did this in ICU while I was still heavily drugged, and Andy thought I must've thought I was cleaning my ears or something. I actually remember doing this test to see if I could hear. I remember not being sure about the results of my testing. It was told to me later in the week that my hearing nerve was cut during surgery, resulting in single sided deafness.
Being SSD so far hasn't been a problem. I have a fairly intense ringing, and a buzzing that is always loud, and sometimes louder. I have read that this typically subsides to a reasonable sound level around 4 weeks out. It's really low on the totem pole of post-op issues, the bigger issues I'm dealing with right now are...
...aarrgghhh! I wear a sweet, clear eye patch at night, and through out the day to keep my eye moist. I can close my eye almost all the way, but know it's not completely closed because it stings in the shower. Eyedrops are my best friend every couple of hours, and I put in a lube every night that helps keep it closed, and extra moisturized. My facial movement hasn't changed, it is still set in stone. It's like half my face thinks it's watching a Sandra Bullock movie, there is zero emotion. The doc thinks it's only temporary, saying it will take 6 weeks or 6 months to improve. Keeping my eye healthy and lubed is really priority numero uno. I've talked to people that have made custom sunglasses that help protect their eye from wind and brightness.
The other un-planned for issue is my vocal chord weakness and propensity to choke on liquids. It's improved already, but my voice is fairly weak. It takes extra effort to push air out when I talk, to get volume with my speech. I was on a weird 'thick liquid' diet for 24 hours, they put in a gelatin like substance to water or juice that made it think like a jelly. As gross as it is, it stopped me from coughing. Coughing really irritated my incision area. This issue I think will be resolved within a week.
I am so impressed with the quality of care at the hospital. The rooms were just opened about a month ago. The food was better than ok. But really what made it stand out were the nurses. Every couple of hours they check your vitals, and they'd always ask if they could do anything for you. Every time I can remember, they were prompt, kind, and had a smile. That makes a huge difference when you start to wonder if you will be able to walk again.
It was also amazing to have a willing family member to sleep in a rickety, small chair by your bedside for a week. (Seriously, they must be the chairs from the old rooms. They must've blew their budget on the flat screen.) Mom, Julie or Robyn stayed with me every night, even though I told them the typical guy answer of "I'm fine". It was nice to have the company, considering the little amount of sleep I did at night. Not sure if anything that I said while under a morphine-induced will come back to haunt me...only time will tell.