urgent please - anyone know about seizures & brain op?

[ernest]

mil had op on wed to remove brain tumour.
This morning sil calls hospital to say she's had 'a seizure'.

I really don't know what that mean or what imlications are. obv need to wait to hear from hospital, but don't alwys feel they're ready/willing to say it how it is. Obv. having a seizure is NOT good.

But after brain op is it also not unusual ? Or does this mean the end is near? sil asked nurse if it was life threatening. SHe answered "I can't say, but try not to worry" (sil is 8 months pg so she feels like everyone tip toeing round her.

Dh due to fly out tonight, and as usual we're left sat here wondering what is going on. Anyone got any experience of this?

Could be any no of things I would imagine. There are always risks with brain surgery. I am not an expert btw, but it depends on what is causing it as to how bad it is and what effect it will have.
Try not to panic, the docs might not say if they don't know, but will certainly tell you when they do.

i would think it was not unusual to have seizures. DH has a brain tumour and they said he would possibly have seizures and so he is not allowed to drive, did she have any seizures before the op?

just found out it's build up of fluid & they're doing 'a procedure' to try abd drain it, the taking her to intensive care.

does anyone know if this is recoverable from?

poor sil just wants her mum to see her baby

no, oj, no seizures before op, just sickness and dizzy for 2 weeks or so

sorry i don't know much about what to expect after brain surgery, but would think that ICU would be standard after brain surgery, for the level of care alone.

My dh had a brain tumour removed 3 years ago. We had a dreadful time in the few days after the op, his brain swelled dramatically and he was in intensive care for about 4 or 5 days I think (we were originally told he'd come straight back to a normal ward) He was on the verge of having the procedure they're talking about for your MIL but didn't need it in the end, he didn't have any seizures but his consciousness level plummeted, he was disorientated and couldn't speak.

He recovered from that scare but we had a couple more in the following week or so. I'd say it was about 2 weeks following the op that we finally knew he'd be OK.

He's now fully recovered, the only side effect is that he's lost his sense of smell altogether.

It's a horribly uncertain time, very, very difficult to cope with as no-one can give you concrete answers, it's very much wait and see.

I hope a positive story can give you some hope and I hope you get an outcome like ours.

I think build up of fluid can be quite common after an op, and it can cause seizures by putting pressure on the brain.
Try not to worry, she is in the best hands.

Don't know if I'm spouting crap, am not in the medical profession. Sorry, but it just seems I've heard stuff like that before.

thank you for that positive story. It's just seems so black and scary atm, and being so far away is so hard.

oj, she has been on the normal ward yesterday. She was I think in hdu on wed night following the op but then thurs moved back to normal ward. yesterday she seemed quite sedated, unlike on the wed night following up where she was much more lucid.

she then threw up yesterday morning and then this am had the seizure.

But it's very reassuring to know that there's hope

I hope she's okay, is DH flying to where she is??
He will keep you informed.
Good luck.

My dh was also in icu, then transferred to a normal ward where it took us about 12 hrs to get Drs to notice he was no longer responsive. (one nurse was shouting at dh 'WOULD YOU LIKE A SANDWICH?' while he was unconscious ) then he was back in icu for a few days. He also had brain fluid leaking out of his nose but that sorted itself out as well. The brain can recover incredibly well sometimes.

i am sure you will know more once DH is out there.
Hi Prof, how are you

yes, she's in hospital in london, dh flying out at 5, hope they'll let him see her.

ProfYaffle . brain fluid leaking from nose .

That must have been terrifying.

SIL has a brain tumour but not malignant - it was causing her to have seizures because of the pressure, think it would be same after surgery as brain swells; not expert at all but have heard similar as other MN said.

ICU's best place as they're monitoring constantly and is normal procedure after surgery of this type. Nurse can't give an opinion as it could be wrong; ask the consultant although it would probably be impossible for them to give you a definitive answer at this stage.
Feel for your SIL, must be terrible for her (and you).
Hope it all works out well for you x

Hi OJ - hope your dh is OK.

Ernest - Sorry, don't mean to hijack your thread! When it stopped coming out of his nose, it started collecting behind the skin on his forehead which swelled out like a huge blister. The surgeon's low tech solution was a tight bandage to squeeze it back in! It worked though.

It seems quite funny now looking back. Like I say the brain can recover from some incredible stuff.

dh is terrified he's going to loose his mum and also really worried his siter will loose the baby at the last minute as she's in such a state

It's a horrible, frightening experience. I'm sure your dh will feel better once he's seen her and spoken to the Drs.

Thinking of you all.