You may continue to feel confused and dizzy, and have speech problems, weakness in parts of the body and seizures. You and your family or carers may be surprised that you may feel worse than before the surgery and worry that you aren't recovering well. These side effects are normal and often improve with time.
As with any brain surgery, awake brain surgery has the potential for risks and complications. These include bleeding, brain swelling, infection, brain damage or death. Other surgical complications may include seizures, muscle weakness, and problems with memory and thinking.
Most patients are pretty active postoperatively and resume their normal activities within a few days, and often return to work around four to six weeks after surgery.
Some people recover well after brain surgery, but this can take some time. Other people have some problems, or long term difficulties. The problems you may have depends on the area of the brain where the tumour was (or still is if you only had part of the tumour removed).
The median survival for patients with low-grade tumors may be more than 10 years, and for patients with high-grade tumors, it ranges from 1 to 3 years.
Avoid risky activities, such as climbing a ladder, for 3 months after surgery. Avoid strenuous activities, such as bicycle riding, jogging, weight lifting, or aerobic exercise, for 3 months or until your doctor says it is okay. Do not play any rough or contact sports for 3 months or until your doctor says it is okay.
Having treatment for a brain tumour is often life changing. Some people make a full recovery and are able to go back to work. How long it takes for you to recover depends on your individual situation. Everyone takes a different amount of time to recover.
The 5-year survival rate for people younger than age 15 is about 75%. For people age 15 to 39, the 5-year survival rate nears 72%. The 5-year survival rate for people age 40 and over is 21%. However, survival rates vary widely and depend on several factors, including the type of brain or spinal cord tumor.
How Long Does It Take to Recover After Brain Surgery? In total, it typically takes about 4-8 weeks to make a full recovery from a brain surgery. The initial incisions on your head may be sore for about a week afterwards. You may have some mild headaches for a period of about 4-8 weeks as well.
If a meningioma tumor is not removed completely, it is likely to regrow within 10 to 20 years.
Having brain surgery might sound like a frightening procedure, but it is quite safe. Doctors who carry out these surgeries are very skilled specialists. You can share your concerns and worries with your doctors and cancer nurse specialist. They will be able to tell you what will happen during the operation.
Precautions to observe after brain surgery
Deep breathing exercises are also a must to avoid developing lung infections. If you feel light-headed or tired after exercising, make sure that you get some rest, and decrease the amount of activity you are doing. You may need to increase your tolerance to exercise slowly.
These may include: seizures, difficulty thinking or speaking, changes in personality, anxiety, depression, disorientation, fatigue, abnormal eye movements, numbness or tingling on one side of the body, weakness on one side of the body, loss of balance, vision changes, memory loss, nausea, generalized pain, trouble ...
Depending on your age at diagnosis, the tumour may eventually cause your death. Or you may live a full life and die from something else. It will depend on your tumour type, where it is in the brain, and how it responds to treatment. Brain tumours can also be fast growing (high grade) and come back despite treatment.
Postoperative delirium in seniors may not be noticeable until a day or two after surgery is complete, but once it hits, you may experience confusion, disorientation, or have problems with your memory or attention span. This delirium comes and goes, but in most cases, it does not last longer than a week or two.
Traditionally, patients stay one night in intensive care and, if doing well, will be transferred out to a regular hospital room the next day. A majority of the IVs and monitors, such as the bladder catheter, are usually removed on the morning following surgery. You will be allowed to eat a regular breakfast.
Cognitive and Behavioral Changes
A brain tumor and its treatment(s) can cause changes in a person's behavior and ability to think. Patients may experience difficulties with their communication, concentration, memory, and their personality may change.
MSK researchers looked at why glioblastoma brain tumors usually come back after treatment. Their findings suggest that a subset of cells — cancer stem cells — are able to evade current treatments because they are not actively dividing, and that these cells can later form new tumors.
Most are considered “benign” because they are slow-growing with low potential to spread. Meningioma tumors can become quite large. Diameters of 2 inches (5 cm.) are not uncommon.
When a person is diagnosed with a brain tumor, changes in behavior and thinking occur in most patients at some point during their treatment. Changes in behavior may include mild memory loss, mood swings, or intense emotional outbursts.
Neurosurgical resection of a brain tumour is a major life event that changes patients' subjective experiences of different emotions, and leads to observer-rated changes in personality. In this study, these changes were not accompanied by increases in anxiety or depression.
Walking after brain injury can be a long and difficult process, but it is achievable with hard work and dedication.
Neurosurgery can cause some temporary swelling around the brain, so it's normal to experience memory loss after brain tumour removal or biopsy. You may also experience difficulties with your memory after brain surgery if surgeons had to remove brain cells that were responsible for your memory.