Two Weeks Post Surgery - Newbie here

[syllymom]

Hi, I'm new here. My Mom is now two weeks post surgery of removal of an AN tumor. We were told it was the 4.2 cm. It was discovered end of January when she had an extreme headache. From there things went downhill. It was determined that there was bleed on and inside the tumor (she had fallen and hit her head a few days older). She developed hydrocephalus and had a shunt put it. Dr said after the shunt that she can go home and get stronger and then see about surgery for the tumor. Wait and see approach. Unfortunately things did not get better and she continued on a journey of brain stem compression. By April she ended up in ICU and the doctors telling us that surgery if very risky and most likely will not improve from her current state or be worse off, BUT if we still want to move forward with surgery they would do it. They really were trying to talk us (her children) out of surgery. We talked to our mom about it and determined she still wanted the surgery. At this point she had nothing to lose... she was in bad shape. Two more weeks went by before the surgery happened and by that point she was next to unresponsive.
Now, two weeks post surgery she is awake and alert, still sleeps a lot but more awake time happening. She can move her eyes to look around and moves her mouth to speak. She is breathing on her own but has a trach now for suctioning as she needs to build up her strength to cough and clear her airways, which we already hear her coughing more once again.  She can also raise and move her arm again and she says that vision is improving and only sometimes seeing double. Her body is deconditioned so has little muscle strength.
This probably all seems very extreme to many of the stories on this forum but the reality is she was close to death from brain stem compression as a result of the AN. I'm interested to hear other peoples experiences and how they deal with things. We want to help my mom and every way possible in her recovery. Thanks for reading.

[jaylogs]

Hi there! Wow... I've been on here almost five years now and I have never heard someone that suffered as much as your mom did and how close she did come to dying.  This just goes to show us how fragile we are and while most of us catch our AN's early on and get them taken care of before things like what happened to your mom become life threatening.  I wish your mom a speedy recovery!  Your mom's experiences are about as extreme as any I have ever heard, but as for all of us who have had these things in our heads, each person is unique in the way their bodies adapt and heal.  Some people have large AN's and bounce right back, other's have small ones and have many issues post op, ranging from facial paralysis to balance issues to CSF leaks.  The point is listen to your doctors, don't overdo it, and expect, especially in your mom's case, a lengthy healing process.  Even after almost 5 years I still have some issues and I had a very small AN and didn't suffer near the problems your mom has.  So it all just comes down to how each person can deal with what happened.  It sounds like your mom has a very good support system, believe me when I say that counts for a lot!  Take care and keep us updated on how it goes! 
Jay