Boyfriend's upcoming surgery, questions!

My boyfriend (22) is having his surgery at Columbia Pres. In NYC by Dr. Conolly. My boyfriend was in coma for about 2 months, moved to a rehab center and came out of the coma and is now eating, drinking, and talking (mumbling). He doesn’t move his left side unless he yawns (involuntary) and he does feel on that side, but he thinks surgery is going to fix that completely. The nurses and doctors say that he’ll likely improve and we will see improvements as time goes on, but I’m really skeptical.

After surgery, did you see any improvement in physical abilities? What about speech?

Thanks for answers!

Hi Ashtinshayne. My neurosurgeon did clean up some blood in the brain. My surgery was 2 months after my bleed. I did have improvement immediately after it was done. BUT…and this is a huge BUT…I had to work extremely hard at physical therapy for a long time afterward.
It is not an instantaneous fix. If you had a compound fracture of the arm…yes they might fix it. However, you will have to have physical therapy aftrward. It might or might not be the same.
Do not worry about the future. Concentrate on the present…think positive and set small goals that he can be proud of today!
Many members could not utter a word after their AVM ruptures…now they can communicate perfectly well.
Never give up hope!

Thank you so much! His surgery will also be 2 months after his bleed. He doesn't have a skull on the right side of his head at the moment (he says he looks like a deflated basketball...) and I keep telling him that he's going to have to work really hard afterward to get full function of his left side back, just like you said, lots of P.T. is needed!!
I really try to be realistic with him, but I also try my best to show how proud of him I am! He's made SO much progress already, I'm just scared it'll stop after this surgery, but I'm glad to hear improvements can (and WILL) be made afterwards with a lot of hard work on his part.
Thanks again. I really appreciate your honesty and support.

He is young and like Barbara said lots of PT
First he will need sleep and time for his brain to heal. He needs to listen to his body. Of course many people will want to see him after his surgery this will tire him out. My husband was great and limited my contact with the outside world he let me sleep and after two months we had goals every could be just walk to the mail box or walk a mile with help.
its important to go to PT as many times a week that they suggest it may seem like 3 times a week is a lot but personally I would forget or would rather sleep than do it at home but if I knew I had an appt I would do it
I am still in PT but down to once a week.
I was in a coma for 5 days due to a rare stroke prior my avm. I did gamesforthebrain.com to help my memory and would do word puzzles and reg puzzles
Your brain is a muscle and esp after being in a coma you need to work it out. He is going to have good days and days that he feels like he took huge steps backwards. The good days will outway the bad soon!
Good luck
Angela

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