surgery recovery times for brain surgey

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Hello, I had a meningioma removed 6 weeks ago. It was pressing on my optic nerve and I was told I would lose the sight in my left eye very soon and the right eye eventually. I was on life support machine for 3 days, but have made good recovery. I get very tired and sleep a lot but am now getting out and about with a mobility (zimmer frame for out of doors) I am on quite a loty of mediation includinh tablets to stop seizures as apparently had 3 seizures in the operating theatre.
I feel the secret is to take things slowly and only do a little each day else I get a little shaky I do not feel I am as sharp mentally and stammer a little but confident this will go in time.. It is taking longer than I thought to get my strength back but then I am 80 years old so think I am extremely lucky to have go through the operation and making good progress. Good luck to you all. J.

I have just had a 6 cm meningeoma removed four weeks ago. I have had a very good recovery with a range of senses and bodily functions improved. The only problem at this stage is that my left optic nerve may be a little damaged. I can still see out of my left eye, but the visual field is a bit impaired. The optometrist is making new glasses that should allow me to get my reading stamina back. There is still some hope of further improvement with my vision. Oh, and insomnia - I am writing this in the middle of the night, but this is gradually improving. I am starting back at work very part-time next week and will build up to full-time over a couple of months. Yes, it was pretty scary, but turned out well. :-)

Thanks for updating us on your condition. I hiope that you come back to post a few times to let us know how things go because I would be interested to see how you recover. Thanks for posting and keep us posted again, okay?

Boy am I ever glad to find this board!!! I have a 3cm meningioma on the left side of my brain that is beginning to effect my hearing, balance and nerves. I'm having surgery on Sept 28. I am SCARED to death. Anyone with any info on what I can expect PLEASE post and let me know!!!! How much hair will I lose from the shave? How much pain can I expect? Will I have any temporary dizziness, balance problems, etc.? Thanks so much!!

Hi there, i go into hospital on monday 7th sept 09 for my operation to take place on tuesday 8th sept 09. I am the same as you have no idea what to expect pain wise but my surgeon is excellent at informing me of what he is going to do and says some people are up walking around the ward the next day. I have been informed i will have the operation on the tuesday to remove the Meningioma and could be home friday or saturday ...which shocked me. My tumour i am told that was only found on 24th July 09 has been there for 5-10yrs and has caused me to lose my sense of smell and have headaches like you would not believe....Im just so glad to be having the surgery to remove it and cannot wait to have a day with no headache....yes.

I will update the board before you go in to have your op. take care XD

i had a seizure on july 15th and found out i had a 3cm meningioma on the top right of my brain. i had surgery on july 17th. spent over night in the icu and came home on july 20th. i have had no lasting problems. i returned to work this week and i am off all my post op meds. good luck to all of you. i believe that alot of my good recovery has come from not having alot of time to think about it and not being afraid when they told me. i always believed, even when they said you have a brain tumor, that everything would be ok. and thankfully my doctor was very good with the hair. i have a scar about 6 or so inches and he only shaved about an inch of hair right up where he made the incision. so if you are worried about your hair, they dont have to shave it all off :-)

That's great to hear! It depends on where the tumor is though if you're worried about your hair but it sounds like yours was in a good spot. Thanks for posting that though :-)

Hi I am about to have a meningioma in the front lobe in the left side removed the size of a golf ball on october 6, 2009 is my surgery...i am a diabetic insulin depended I was wondering if anyone out there know the recovery time and what I can expect...I am so scared...

I had a debulking of a vestibular schwannoma tumor severely compressing the brainstem and the removal of a kissing meningioma next to it in Sept 2007. I did pretty well except had a horrible reaction to the anesthesia which was really scary and not fun to wake up to. I was in ICU one night and released on the 4th day post surgery.

I remember it took me awhile to drive again. It is strange but at first it was kind of terrifying even being a passenger (when my mom drove). LOL But I have dogs and needed to walk them. So not sure how soon but I know it was within a month - 2 weeks - that I drove a mile up the road from my house to walk them in a neighborhood with a big hill.

I was tired but still had good endurance after coming home after surgery. My mom was getting upset thinking I was walking too far. So we got my surgeon's opinion and he said I was doing great if I was able to walk that distance and length of time.

I was restricted from lifting over 10 pounds for mayea month or two, so I had to ask for help when buying dog food. When I went to the gym I kept the weights light. I think I may have waited a month to go to the gym and then for a few weeks or couple months I went 1-2 days a week instead of 3.

By March, I raced up the tallest skyscraper on the west coast - Columbia Tower in Seattle- within 14 minutes. I trained all summer 2008 to complete a 31.5 mile railroad grade trail in a day. I did the hike in September 2008 which was just under a year post surgery.

I took a break over the holidays and in January 2009 I started training for a half marathon. In May 2009 I ran a half marathon in 2 hours 14 minutes. (just over a year and a half post surgery).

I continued to have a fantastic 2009 and this summer I returned to scuba diving and hiking in the mountains which were activities I have been unable to do for 4-5 years because the tumor which grew so post radiosurgery, destroyed my balance function. I had to work very hard to get back the amount I have. I am definitely a disabled diver and hiker. It takes me a long time to do a hike with difficult or narrow terrain. Not because of my stamina but because the need to carefully negotiate the terrain so I do not fall. It is very mentally exhausting.

I DEFINITELY remember the long period of sleeplessness! I thought I would be all morphined up and sleep through the whole hospital stay. NOT! I was up constantly going to the bathroom! It was nuts! Things did not get much better when I got home. It seems it was 3 weeks I did not get any sleep and I could no longer tolerate it! It was insane! Since I did not get much sleep the night before surgery, I was already sleep deprived. Finally, I begged my primary doctor to prescribe me sleeping pills (Ambien) which worked well and I was able to have relief. It felt like pulling several all nighters in college in a row!

I remember the skull numbness. The feeling eventually came back sort of and is sometimes sensitive or itchy.

I can recall is extreme nausea after surgery. It may have been because of the anesthesia. When I woke in recovery , I was vomiting violently and convulsing. I could not eat during most of my hospital stay until the very last day. That is why I was released - because I was finally well enough to eat. I still had nausea when I came home. Green tea wasubi peanuts and orange sherbet ice cream worked well for the nausea. I lived on them for awhile and need to stock up.

I also had extreme weakness in my right arm (the surgery was on the right side of my brain). I could barely write and a month post surgery I was even contemplating seeing a hand therapist. But shortly after a month, my hand started working again and continued to improve. Before I hated even signing my name but now I have no problems writing at all. My handwriting is not great but it had gone downhill and changed post radiosurgery in 2004.

On major thing affected which has been a big drag for me is my vision! It really sucks because I am completely deafened. After the surgery I had pretty bad double vision in the hospital. They said it would take 6 months to a year for it to go away. It improved but I still continued to have intermittent bouts of double or distorted vision. In April we determined the problem is that my field of nystagmus has narrowed. So my eyes are moving all over the place. To see normally I need to close an eye or tilt my head back. I have been taking Gabapentin since June which has helped quite a bit.

Ok, here is the real kicker.....I have more tumors pressing on my brainstem and need another surgery next month. I am hoping that the surgery is as successful and recovery is as promising. I am a very fit person and have even started working with a personal trainier once a week to work on focus, stability, and core muscles in preparation of my surgery.

You are welcome to visit my blog to read my story and what I went through post radiosurgery, surgery, and follow what happens next. It is called the 'NF2 Odyssey"

Oh, and I turn 38 on Tuesday. I just turned 36 two days before my last surgery.

Thanks for sharing your stories everyone!

Hi there, i have had my Meningioma removed via ten hours of Surgery which left my parents extremely upset as they had been waiting for me to return to the ward since 3pm and it was approx 7.30pm when i got back to the high dependency unit but for me it was relief that i was still about to tell the tale. ;-) :-D

Recovery is strange because you feel better for having the tumour removed but have no energy to do anything and have to take it really easy anyway.

Having brain surgery certainly shows you who your friends and family are so don't be upset if the person who you thought would support you the most, supports you the least...it happens and it did to me...but i had things on my mind and took no notice as it was no longer a big deal for me to have that person in my life.

I have to go for an MRI Scan in 3 months then MRI Scans are done yearly to see how things are going and to make sure it is not growing back. Scans can continue for 5-10 years im told.

All i can say from my experience is take your time recovering, do not rush things as Rome was not built in a day and you have the rest of your life ahead of you ...........ENJOY IT xx :-D

I had a surgery on the right side of my head to remove a cavernous malformation. i was in ICU for two days and released after 4 days. I stayed at home for 2 months and recuperated. I just came back to work and felt tired and some pain inside my head on my first day of work.

I had surgery to remove a large meningioma on the left side of my head on Aug.7,2009. The first surgery went ok(8 1/2 hours) but was rushed back into surgery 6 hours later (for another 5 hour surgery) because i had swelling. I was in icu for 2 weeks, regular room for 2 week and hospital therapy for 2 weeks. I also had 3 weeks of inhome therapy to learn how to walk and get my balance back. I have double vision in my left eye and have to wear glasses to try to correct it (i didnt wear them before the surgery). The left side of my face and left arm are numb. They say the numbness might go away and it might not they can't say for sure. ANY brain surgery is dangerous but each person reacts different.... their are people who had the same surgery as me and they have recovered 100 % ........and were all scared to get it done but it is something we have to do..........its not going to go away........... good luck and let us know how you dong.

hello,

i had a colloid cyst removed from my third ventricle on Wednesday (it is now Monday). I'm not sure what type you have or what type of surgery is going to happen, but i had an endoscope, thank God. My symptoms were dizziness, headaches, confusion, vertigo... the surgery went well and i feel pretty good. still dizzy, but they did drill a hole in my head. i tire pretty easy, but otherwise feel great. get up and walk when you can and eat when you can. it will help, even though you don't want to! i really wish you the best of luck, and don't be scared. these doctors and surgeons today are wonderful. you will be great!!!

Almost 6 months ago I had brain surgery for a 4cm tumor located right below my left earlobe (sorry can't remember the exact term for the brain tumor) I have my story on a blog at

Surgery sucked but realistically it wasn't that bad. My doctor didn't beleive in pain medication so if you have a low tollerance for pain make sure they know you want more than darvacet. I didn't feel a lot of pain for a few days after surgery. Then it hurt but thankfully they gave me some valumn.

I came home with vertigo and some migranes. Before surgery I was having migranes daily. Now, I haven't had a migrane in 5 months. Back to work full time as a social worker. The only issue I have is that my head is numb at times, I have buzzing in my ears at times (would have gone deaf if I didn't have surgery), and still exhausted some days.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

I had one of the best doctors in the world. His name is Dr. Fuckushima at Duke/Raleigh Hospital.