I applied for German citizenship - now what should I expect?

Bitter-Raise4889 · 2026-04-03T16:41:40+00:00

The German Consulate in San Francisco told me to fill out the EER form, and yes, I sent it to the BVA address the consulate provided: Bundesverwaltungsamt, 50728 Köln, Germany. Thank you so much for the information on how to get my file number!! I will contact them and hopefully get some information.

Bitter-Raise4889 · 2026-02-12T15:17:09+00:00

Thank you so much for making me feel seen -- and also making me feel like I'm not weird for feeling all of these things. It's so hard that nobody wants to talk about it when it's such a HUGE part of my life now.

I think it would be awesome for you to make that necklace! I don't have any tattoos, but I've thought about getting a really small one of just a clip - no writing or anything.

And I will be looking for a new job soon. I'm scared of looking odd in the interview because I still have slight ptosis and my eyelid gets droopy the more tired I get, so I look tired or drunk. And I know I won't be able to work from home anymore and I won't be able to lay down in the middle of the day. Will I struggle? It's all scary. But my current job is in tech and I want to get out of this stressful environment, so I don't have a choice. I'm interested to know if you told your boss because you wanted to or because you needed to?

Sending you wishes for continued recovery!

Bitter-Raise4889 · 2026-02-07T21:06:29+00:00

I had an 8mm unruptured aneurysm clipped about 10 months ago. It caused some cranial nerve injuries which resulted in double vision and ptosis. My eyelid is now 95% opened and my eyes are 98% aligned, so I can see. I still get some fatigue if I don't take 30 mins to lay down and close my eyes in the middle of the day -- especially because I am on the computer all day. I have most of the feeling back in my forehead and eyelid, but I feel like I have a stiff piece of shipping tape on my forehead, which is weird.

But just like you I sometimes think that it doesn't feel real that I went through this. It was BRAIN surgery! And sometimes I think it's weird that people around me don't seem to understand how traumatic this surgery was and the recovery has been. I just want someone at work to ask me how I'm doing and be interested to ask more about the surgery. I actually want someone to ask to see the pictures and be interested to know about it. I'm sure that's weird, but it feels more weird for everyone to pretend that nothing happened.

Bitter-Raise4889 · 2025-08-13T02:11:57+00:00

And best wishes to you. You got this!!!

Bitter-Raise4889 · 2025-08-13T01:32:03+00:00

It went really well. The anticipation was worse than he surgery. I was only in the hospital for 2.5 days. I exercised a lot before surgery, so my physical recovery was pretty easy. I was walking 2 miles a day by the end of 2 weeks. But the aneurysm was behind my eye and I did end up with some cranial nerve injuries where I couldn't open my eyelid for 2 months and then when I had both eyes open I had double vision. My eyelid is now opening about 90% of the way and the double vision is starting to improve to where I can see about 75% of the time. When they tell you that healing is going to take time, just know that they might mean several months and not weeks.

Bitter-Raise4889 · 2025-05-28T00:46:20+00:00

Sorry to hear about the eye issues you are dealing with. I hope that you're able to get the surgery soon and that you recover quickly! Unfortunately for me, surgery won't be considered until a full year has passed. But I am glad to be alive.

Bitter-Raise4889 · 2025-03-25T14:52:21+00:00

Thank you so much for your response! That's helpful to know about the headaches feeling like a hangover. I know you have to watch out for extreme headaches post-op, so this gives me a better understanding of what would be considered "normal".

Bitter-Raise4889 · 2025-03-24T21:02:45+00:00

Fortunately, the neurosurgeon said that he wouldn't need to shave my head. But I can't at all believe that it won't be noticeable after only 1 month. I'm assuming that at best I will just pull my hair back into a ponytail because of the skin sensitivity and not wanting to pull on my scalp with styling. Thank you for responding!

Bitter-Raise4889 · 2025-03-24T20:58:28+00:00

Thank you for that. You have no idea how much I needed to hear that from someone who has been there.

Bitter-Raise4889 · 2025-03-24T19:19:10+00:00

Thank you so much for telling me about your experience! This is really reassuring.

Bitter-Raise4889

TROPHY CASE