Four weeks out of surgery

Hello, I had a surgical clipping of my 9-10mm aneurysm. I was admitted as an emergency because it was large and effecting my left eye. I have some questions about recovery. Has anyone else had this partial paralysis of the eye? How did it recover and how long did it take?
My eyebrow is also paralyzed after the surgery and about a third of my scalp is numb. Will I regain these?
Many thanks in advance.

Jasmine, welcome! Everyone recovers differently. I had coilings for my ruptured aneurysm. So this is my guess and I hope others who have had a crainiotomy will share their experience. I’m guessing there’s some nerve damage from going in with the clipping procedure. Good news is nerves can sometimes regenerate themselves, aggravating news is that this can take years. Nothing about any type of procedure is fun. But I would suggest you speak to your medical team, ask about hydration and protein. For my rupture, I had to eat 90 grams of protein every day and stay hydrated. My friends recently shared that with their bariatric surgery they had to eat 60 grams of protein a day. The dietician in hospital told me (and I confirmed it with my cousin who is also a registered dietician/nutritionist with decades of experience) that the brain requires a lot of protein to heal. I used protein shakes and bars that were around the 30 gram level. Sorry I can’t be of more help…what did the medical team say?

1 Like

Hey Jasmine,
I too have had a craniotomy and yes, the nerves do heal. It can feel really odd but it does improve over time. The scars themselves can be more sensitive for longer but eventually the sensation mellows. The question of ‘how long did it take?’ I have to agree with Moltroub, we all heal at different rates and it really can depend on many factors. For me, somethings have healed really well, but then somethings have not. I have tried to compare my situation to others, and I’ve found I simply can’t. Some are like nothing happened and yet others are way, way worse than I. So trying to compare, didn’t help.

Merl from the Moderator Support Team

Thanks Merl and Moltraub for your prompt responses. I know everyone heals differently. I never really discussed recovery with my doctor much. It happened so fast. I found out about my aneurysm on Tuesday and Thursday morning they operated. Now I wish I had my doctor on speed dial.

I had a craniotomy and a right posterior communicating aneurysm (near the controls for the eye). I had double vision in that eye for the first few weeks. So weird, I had needed glasses since I was 12, but I didn’t need them after the aneurysm. I use reading glasses, but my distance vision is good. I can’t comment on paralysis, since I didn’t have paralysis of the muscles controlling the eye. The scalp numbness I had was below the craniotomy scar and that gradually came back over a few weeks. You are still healing and I would be optimistic that things will only get better as you heal.

1 Like

I do have mine in my contacts. The team will answer anything you throw at them. And usually they’re roght​:clap:t3::clap:t3::clap:t3: