Will have Left Temporal lobe Surgery on July 7

Hi Cheryl, Congratulations and best of luck to you! I hope that everything goes well for you. There are definitely challenges after surgery, but it's really amazing how "most of you" recovers so quickly! I had intense headaches for about 6 weeks, major jaw pain (causing difficulty eating, yawning, etc.) for a couple of months that is waning, really bad double vision for 2 1/2 months, queasiness lasted a couple of weeks (probably from my pain medicine, now that I think of it), intense emotions and depression. It has been 3 months since my surgery, and I have been seeing a therapist for a good month now. Therapy is helping me work through all of the emotions brought up by the surgery, so I recommend it if you find yourself feeling blue afterwards. My experience: I was in SOOOO much pain when I came to, I was amazed. I immediately put my hand to my head when I came to in the recovery room. I was not expecting that! I had been warned of frequent headaches before my surgery, but I sure as heck wasn't expecting it to be that intense. I don't know if it's that bad for everyone (I hope not!). I start my follow-up appt's tomarrow, so I'll let you know what comes out of it :) Best of luck!! Heather :)

Hi Cheryl, I had the surgery done on May 9, 1994 and that was the first day of the rest of my life! My last seizure was right before they put me under. They had to remove a little more than expected, 7 pieces to be exact, but I finally felt alive after 31years of seizures. Go in with a positive thought like I did. I didnt even have to learn anything over again. As a matter of fact I was only in ICU for 36 hours and then in a private room for 2 more days and then home. Good luck to you and remember anything is better than seizures. (That was the way I felt anyway) Emmy

Hi Cheryl, I'm with Heather..best of luck to you. I had my surgery January 12th, so just passed the 5 months since date. Immediately after surgery I was constantly exhausted (I'd sleep for over 8 hours in the night and within a couple of hours after waking.. you'd think I hadn't slept at all) and it pained to open my mouth very wide. That disappeared within 3 months, then I began to notice my constantly used memory was affected. (I never had problems with my constant memory before..just names of movies, actors, etc, things that wern't part of my day to day life) Now I discovered I couldn't even name the malls in my own city. I saw my surgeon on the 5 month anniversary and he said this is typical and that 5 months wasn't very long after surgery = I am still recovering inside my head. I never had headaches after surgery. I was given these great drugs and by the time they were gone no pain existed in my scull. Thus far, I have had no seizures. My husband is convinced he would have seen a seizure by now so believes my surgery has been successful. I'll see my psych next week and maybe she can help me start working on improving my memory. I'd also advise a psychiatrist or psychologist to talk with after surgery. Given the % of surgeries that don't work, I plan on staying with my psychologist until I have passed a year after surgery & go off meds. Since, if this surgery doesn't work, I know I am going to need her to talk with. My thought is positive, but I am also well aware that surgery isn't 100%, so IMO this is my attempt and so far all is going well. I've had seizures for 49 years, so I'm hoping I'm due for some luck. ~sol