Brain Surgery - What's Normal?

Hugs to you. My thoughts and prayers will be with you and your mom.
What you are saying about her talking and her good movements is very reassuring! I only did a short rotation in ICU and we had a couple patients with brain injury/surgery and many with other conditions. What you are describing, the confusion and "dementia" type of talking is actually very common (to an extent) in the ICU in general for a couple reasons. First, she had a major trauma to her body/brain. Inflammation does tend to occur after any trauma/surgery and that can cause pressure and symptoms. Second, she is likely on fairly large doses of medication, whether to keep blood pressure under control, anti-inflammatories, and especially pain medications. They can all contribute to these symptoms. I am sure they are keeping a close watch on her for any infections (something that can contribute to it as well). Finally, there is a correlation to being in the ICU itself where your body has a really hard time adjusting to the lack of a true day/night due to all the lights, noise/ beeping, activity, etc. You might notice the symptoms get worse right around sundown.
Please don't be afraid to ask the doctors and nurses what to expect with your mom. They cannot tell you definitively if there will be any residual issues, but they can at least let you know if the things you are seeing are expected after her surgery and how long they might last. If you notice things changing, PLEASE tell her doctors/providers. You know your mom best and family members can be the first people to notice a change that might be an issue that needs to be addressed.
And now...a reminder to get some rest and take care of YOU TOO!
Hugs,
A.

The confusion is very normal and it is too early to know if it will be permanent. I am a speech pathologist and work with these types of patients all the time. I work in an outpatient clinic and there are many factors that go into judging a patients prognosis. Age of the patient, where in the brain the damage ocurred, success of the surgery etc. Speak to her doctors and therapists. If she continues to be confused there is treatment available to help her. This is probably just the beginning of her recovery. Many patients' cofusion improves once they are moved from ICU. Good luck

You should speak directly with her doctors about what th expectations are now and for the future. EVERY brain case is different! My mother had surgery for an extremely aggressive brain tumor last year and we spoke quite often with her actual doctors, their prognosis and expectations. They said every case is different when you're dealing with the brain. Because of the invasive surgery, what is happening right now is probably perfectly normal. The fact that she's alert, can converse and physically move are all FANTASTIC signs! The confusion may linger to some degree, but it may be gone within the month.The only people who can give any type of real idea though are the neurosurgeons on her team.

My mother didn't have brain surgery but did suffer a few small strokes.

There were times right after the strokes that she would talk funny, not make sense. Or couldn't find the right word/substitute the wrong one, etc.

It did get much much better and the only lasting issue was she couldn't spell very well anymore so reading her letters or lists was hard and basic math skills were gone too...so balancing the checkbook had to be done for her, but she could write checks at the grocery store, etc.

You might also take in mind she is probably on pain medication right now and that can effect her processing as well as the brain issues.

Big HUG to you!!

Don't read this if you can't handle tough love:
She had major brain surgery two days ago, and you're expecting her to be back to normal????????? Do you think this was something she was expecting to have to deal with at ANY age? I know you're scared, but please pull up your big girl panties and suck it up. She needs you to care for her now. This is about her.
I had brain surgery at 27 ... it took me some time to re-learn which side of the faucet was hot and which side of the envelope the stamp went on, and I still have double vision from the surgery... She will never be exactly who she was, but she may come close. Nobody can tell you what will happen, we are all different.
My Dad has Alzheimer's, so I sympathize with trying to carry on a conversation... Please know you are going to get through this and be stronger on the other side. Good luck and God bless.

Hi--This must be so difficult for you, but I can tell you that my brother had a similar experience after brain tumor surgery. They call this aphasia. It is a sort of disconnect between what you remember, what you want to say and what comes out of your mouth. We could show him a pencil and ask what it was, and he would say, "oh that is something to write with." But he couldn't name it. He got language therapy for this and it resolved in a few weeks. He did a lot of flash card type exercises and worked with a therapist of some kind and it eventually resolved. Talk to mom's doctor and ask whether this would help your mom. IRemember that it can be just as frustrating for her not to be able to say what she wants as it is for you not to understand. Good luck and I hope your mom makes a full recovery.