Hello all,
To recap things, my mom had clipping surgery for her ruptured aneurysm on April 12, 2014. She was recovering in the hospital a little over a month, including some therapy (but always seemed a bit off even during recovery). Her cognition was declining some and she would say things that didn’t make sense in the moment, almost seeming like a mild form of dementia. We all thought it was part of recovery since her brain scans came back clean for a long time. She even made it to assisted living for a week, but then had a setback of getting really lethargic and passing out.
Fast forward-- she got sent back to the hospital for another scan, and they saw she was experiencing hydrocephalus and she’s be a good candidate for a vp shunt.
She had surgery one week ago from today. It was shocking how much her cognition improved. It was dramatic leaps and bounds…along with her balance walking.
She actually seemed to have quite a bit of energy or at least pretty talkative a couple days after surgery. On the third day they sent her back to assisted living for more rehab. My only concern (and maybe I am just too worried and overreacting) is it seems like she’s getting weaker than when her surgery was first completed. I know she’s sad to not be home and she’s been through a lot. But she still feels best with her head laying down, versus upright-- which is unfortunate because I think she wants to walk more but she feels the implant throbbing in her head. Her appetite is also very small…almost not at all… She is on a feeding tube at night to help her get strength for a little while. Will she start feeling a little more normal again in time? I hear a lot of people do fine with shunts so I’m just curious.