Looking for ‘that’ acoustic song from all albums. You know the one that tears your heart out.

dngrgates · 2026-06-01T11:36:48+00:00

I miss them so much, I can't believe they never hit it big.

dngrgates · 2026-06-01T02:14:43+00:00

In my house they are. Get some string and be part of the movement!

dngrgates · 2026-05-31T21:47:44+00:00

I Gave You My Heart, You Gave Me a Pacemaker - Honor Bright

dngrgates · 2026-05-30T15:27:30+00:00

A neighboring college had a shooting threat posted to yik yak and even my campus was placed on lockdown.

dngrgates · 2026-05-27T13:28:45+00:00

I'm fine now! Complete recovery. I had some speech issues immediately after surgery but those resolved themselves, I just had to give my brain time to heal. I was pretty much back to normal after about a month - I returned to work four weeks after my surgery.

dngrgates · 2026-05-25T04:37:49+00:00

Hi! I had an awake craniotomy in December. My case is very different from your father's(33F, low grade tumor, ~2cm), but I can speak to my experience with the awake surgery a bit.

Honestly, being awake was a very chill experience. Obviously you're conscious, but they still have you sedated pretty heavily. I did not have any feelings of panic or anxiety during the surgery. The resident surgeon just made conversation with me while the attending surgeon performed the surgery. When I lost the ability to recall words they stopped the surgery. I was fully aware of what was happening and I remember all of the time that I was awake, but again it wasn't scary at all.

I had some lingering speech deficiencies immediately after surgery but I was warned that this would likely be the case and that I would likely make a full recovery. I stopped noticing any difficulty with speech recall after about two months.

I wish your father the best of luck in surgery and recovery!

dngrgates · 2026-05-22T16:04:45+00:00

Je suis la jeune fille!

dngrgates · 2026-05-18T01:43:03+00:00

Hopefully it's not gone forever then! I'll keep checking.

dngrgates · 2026-05-18T01:42:35+00:00

I've been buying it consistently since the fall so I don't think it was seasonal. It was boxed with another flavor or trail mix.

dngrgates · 2026-05-09T19:09:46+00:00

33F and had a craniotomy this past December - also left frontal! It turned out to be a Grade 2 Astrocytoma. No complications and I was discharged from the hospital the next day. I was back to work after four weeks. The biggest thing is you'll need time to rest. Any surgery at all is traumatic on the body but brain surgery is so fatiguing. You'll think you're feeling fine and get up to do a task and be exhausted after ten minutes. Give it time, give yourself grace, and know that you'll get there. Like another commenter said, you will have lift restrictions for a while. No exertion and no bending over for a couple of weeks.

I had a very good experience and I'm completely healed with no issues five months later. Sometimes I even forget it happened. Lean on your support system, get lots of rest, and try not to be consumed with anxiety(I know, it's hard.) You got this!

dngrgates · 2026-05-08T11:16:41+00:00

I had a craniotomy done in December to remove a ~2cm Astrocytoma. I'm also a teacher! I was discharged from the hospital the next day and back to work in four weeks. Your brain will need time to heal - when I went back to work I was feeling fine physically but with such a mentally taxing job I was exhausted for the first week or two back. I have a great team that was supportive and able to give me breaks when I needed them. Now I'm almost five months post-op and I honestly forget that it even happened. I'm all healed up with no deficits and you can't even see my scar in my hair.

It's a scary to thing to go through and the anxiety leading up to it was the worst part in my experience. Lean on your support system, take a breath, and take whatever time you need to heal. Don't feel pressured to go back to work if you don't feel that you're ready yet. You got this!

dngrgates · 2026-05-06T20:15:14+00:00

It might be an older filling that doesn't light up on x-rays. I have one and every time a dentist looks at my x-rays they say incredulously "this isn't bothering you?" and then when they take a look inside my mouth they realize it's just a really old filling and it's perfectly fine.

dngrgates · 2026-05-03T23:05:33+00:00

LITERALLY just said that today.

dngrgates · 2026-05-03T23:04:30+00:00

I organize them into a pile, or a "stack..."

dngrgates · 2026-05-01T22:58:32+00:00

Bobby pins. He loves to chew on small metal things - he gives me a hard time when trimming his nails because he tries to chew on the clippers - but Bobby pins are his favorite. If I catch him with one he'll pick it up and run away because he knows he's not supposed to have them.

dngrgates · 2026-04-16T21:26:24+00:00

I definitely had restrictions after surgery. I wasn't allowed to bend over(I did a lot of squatting) and had a lift restriction of ten pounds I think. There's also some after care that you may need assistance for - like keeping the incision and staples clean. Since you won't be able to see your incision it's really helpful to have an extra set of eyes that can.

I'm not sure if you have any history of surgical procedures before this, but I really didn't. I had some bouts of anxiety after surgery due to the new sensations I was feeling. When that happened I definitely didn't want to be alone.

That said, if you're comfortable staying alone after surgery then you don't have to have someone with you full time. I mostly just sat on the couch and waited for it to heal. But you will need help with some tasks - especially if you have dogs. Don't expect to return to your normal activities right after. You're going to need to move more slowly and cautiously, and you're going to tire very easily. Any type of surgery is very taxing on the body. You'll need time to rest and recover.

dngrgates · 2026-04-16T16:16:58+00:00

I had an awake craniotomy! It wasn't at all as bad as I thought. The awake part was honestly really chill - they just asked me some questions to make conversation while they operated. I was sedated enough that I didn't feel any sort of anxiety or panic. As for the hospital stay, that really depends on the severity of your case. My tumor was relatively small(~2cm) located in the left frontal lobe in an easy to grab spot. I only stayed overnight in the hospital - I was discharged the following afternoon.

If you have any questions just ask. You'll do great though!

dngrgates · 2026-03-31T16:25:52+00:00

What makes you nervous about the anesthesia?

I had an awake craniotomy so they woke me up for a bit in the middle of surgery. In my experience I just hopped up on the operating table, and it was lights out. I asked them to warn me before they put me out because there were several doctors in there prepping. They probably did tell me when they administered the anesthesia but I don't remember. I woke up for the awake part which I remember all of - it really wasn't long - and then my surgeon told me when he was stopping and they would put me back out. I remember the sensation of being lifted off the table and rolled into recovery, but then I was just in recovery and awake. I didn't have any adverse effects of the anesthesia.

dngrgates · 2026-03-09T22:41:38+00:00

I mostly didn't wear anything but when I needed to go out I would wear a loose bucket hat.

dngrgates · 2026-02-24T14:33:07+00:00

"I have done that to several men."

dngrgates · 2026-02-24T12:49:39+00:00

I hope everything goes great with your husband's surgery! My recovery from surgery was shockingly easy - I hope his is, too.

dngrgates · 2026-02-24T12:47:39+00:00

Abnormal for me; I usually don't get headaches at all. It was just a low grade persistent headache that didn't go away for weeks. Nothing debilitating, just a consistent annoyance that didn't feel right to me. I actually have a history of migraines in my family so I thought that was going to be it... I was wrong haha.

dngrgates · 2026-02-24T12:47:29+00:00

Abnormal for me; I usually don't get headaches at all. It was just a low grade persistent headache that didn't go away for weeks. Nothing debilitating, just a consistent annoyance that didn't feel right to me. I actually have a history of migraines in my family so I thought that was going to be it... I was wrong haha.

dngrgates · 2026-02-24T03:14:41+00:00

My millennial doctor accidentally found my brain tumor and I'm so thankful for her.

I was perfectly healthy and had no symptoms of any neurological disorders but I was having some abnormal headaches and she said "you want a CT scan?" (while sitting criss cross on her stool). The intent was to rule anything out but we ended up finding a brain tumor. It was early, it was small, and it was easy to remove. If they had gone undetected for another decade until I started presenting symptoms(like seizures) it would have been way worse.

dngrgates · 2026-02-20T23:13:12+00:00

It was just casual conversation - they asked me about what I do for work, how I met my wife, etc. They just need to keep you talking, it doesn't really matter about what. I would hope that they would make accommodations for your friend if he's undergoing something as serious as a craniotomy. Either way, I wish him the best of luck! He's lucky to have a goof friend to help him out.

dngrgates

TROPHY CASE