Surgery complications?

[stilllearning]

Hi..my friend (45)had surgery for epilepsy on June 25th at Dartmouth Hitchcock in NH. She has had seizure for several years now and unable to drive.

Im not sure what type of surgery she had, she gave me a generic description of
the doctors removing scar tissue. They were going to shave an area behind her right ear and so on.

Can anyone give me the name off hand of what this surgery is called?

In any case...she was in the hospital for a week, came home in alot of pain, and her mom brought her back up to dartmouth 2 days ago, as she wasnt eating, and was moving real slow.

I talked with my friend yest am, well, I tried too. It was difficult. She was slurring her words and talking so so slow. I hesitate to say she had an adverse reaction to the surgery, but something doesnt seem right.

I talked to her mom and made a comment that it seemed like she was drugged up and she stated that her daughter was not sedated, that the doctors arent taking her concerns seriously. Her mom is thinking about putting her into a rehab setting as she can't fend for herself.

Im real worried about her. This does not seem normal.

Does it take time for the brain to heal? Is her "slowness' normal.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Nakamova]

Hi stillearning --

The doctors probably removed a small part of the brain where it had been determined that your friend's seizures were originating. It may have been the right temporal lobe (in which case the surgery would have been called a lobectomy), or perhaps it was another area. It can take a while to recover from such surgery, but if your friend doesn't seem to be recovering properly, then you need to know why. I would get pushy -- demand to see her neurologist or someone else who will look closely at how your friend is doing. Don't stop until you get some answers.

Good for you for looking out for your friend.

[bella0809]

The short-term recovery period is generally about 6 weeks and long term, when the docs generally will do a follow-up neuropsych test is a year. I had to relearn to read a write after the surgery, but it came back quickly. If your friend has any concerns, get her back to the doc. It's better to be a pain in the butt (which I believe I might have been) than not to go if you think something's wrong. The memory problems are usually associated more with surgery on the left side than right side. Google right temporal lobectomy for some specifics. Sounds like that's what your friend had.

[RobinN]

Your friend is very lucky to have a caring friend as yourself.

[KelVarQ]

It takes time. I had a Right Temporal Lobectomy and it definitely takes time (they went in by my right ear). I'm assuming your friend is on medications which could be a contributing factor. Looking back at my recovery the majority of my problems were the side effects of meds rather than the surgery itself. Yes, I definitely had some weird stuff from surgery (hallucinations, senses heightened, dissociation, etc.) but some of what you're talking about can be from the meds. DEFINITELY tell them to call the neurologist and demand to get in since it could very well be from the surgery and it's ALWAYS better to be safe. GOOD LUCK!