Since my son Ryan will likely have surgery sometime in July, I’ve been doing some research about the recovery process from a craniotomy. I’ve found that people commonly suffer from headaches for several months afterwards, along with some dizziness and seizures. But most of the stuff I’ve read pertains to adults, not kids. So I was wondering if kids recover more quickly (because they generally bounce back from things faster), or not? Any experiences you can share would be wonderful.
I’ve heard that the results from a crainotomy are often times simular between the young and the wise. But also that crainiotomy is the best way to go rather than gamma knife because radiations long term effects. And that embolization just gets trickier cause some of the axcess is limited because of the size of children. like the instruments clog up more of the vessel and bump the sides during the manuvers. one thing i’ve been reading on is the ability of the brain to regrow grey matter faster in the areas damaged if stimulated. and kids grow fast. but for instance in my own case my avm is partially growing in the speech and my eyesight area so reading outload before and after the surgery is going to be one rehab assignment i’ve given myself. also eat lots and a variety of green leafy veggies. lutien or lutinin or whatever it is that’s in them increases the elastisity of arteries and veins so the are less likely to hemorrage and it’s those little bleeds that often cause the seizures. Dizziness and mood or behavoir changes often occur post surgery but they often are from the medication he will be on. And great care needs to be used in how u treat a person on these meds. my cousin following a unrelated to avm brain accident was on meds that made him kinda crazy. i think looking back on it and because he was so young that the way he was treated and the effects it had on him socially were far more significant than any brain deficit or probs he doesn’t have anymore. he was supose to die. car crash. lots of depekote with other seizure meds, full recovery though. went through school. recovered completley and off meds now but the social trauma was difficult and i think him and others thinking he was disabled and had probs from brain surgery and not being educated about the side effects from meds made him socially awkward and conscious. good luck and tell em he’s not alone.
I remember being told in the hospital, or at least heard mention, that I should recover well after my craniotomy since I was young (I was 16 at the time).
It’s hard to say though since I nor my family have ever had contact with anyone who has had an AVM, so it is hard to compare. But like you said, generally speaking young people do recover faster, even for a brain operation.
but it’s still a long recovery, no matter who it is. I did still experience those things you mentioned (and still do with the headaches)
My daughter is 8 years old. She had an emergency cranio in January 2009 and a scheduled cranio in March 2010. I know a few others who have had AVMs resected surgically. Two others that I know haven’t had major problems with seizures or headaches. My daughter had had headaches. An EEG about 9 months after the first surgery indicated there was abnormal activity on the right side (the surgically repaired side), so my daughter was given anti-seizure meds. My daughter still has occasional headaches, although the challenge is for me to decipher which ones I should worry about and which ones are regular ordinary headaches.
From what I have not only been told, but have seen (my cousin was diagnosed with tubular sclerosis and my aunt has shown me videos of children who have brain surgery who bounce back very quickly) as with every surgery recovery is different for everyone. Since children’s brains are not fully developed they have a better chance of remake the lost connections from surgery. I did a quick google search and you are very right most of it was for adults.
My daughter has had 4 embolizations and one shunt placed between the ages of two months and 5 months old. My only advice is to be vigilant and watch him closely. If he is acting differently let the nurses know immediately. Claire had seizures after her last two embos and a bleed during her last one which possibly caused her to be partially blind. She has not had a seizure since the procedure and her eyesight seems to be improving. After each procedure she was back to her normal self with in a week (with exception to the vision loss)