So here we are- it will be 2 months this Wed that she had her surgery. Migraines are Back :( She has no appetitie, depressed and overwhelmed. ) She has gone back to school for 2 full days last week and 2 half days and home again today. She is very behind in her classes -especially the ones that were not considered "core" so they were not eligible for a tutor - she has essentially missed 2 months of lessons in these courses. I am considering having her DR. put her back on home bound or maybe cyber school for the rest of this year. My worry is that she will get even more depressed with no interaction with friends. Any advice would be appreciated.
I had my surgery at 16 as sophomore in high school. I can tell you from personal experience consider the whole year a lose school wise. The pressure of trying to catch up on months worth of work (regardless of academic ability) is not worth the stress. You must also consider your child had massive brain surgery her brain functions differently now then it did before the surgery. Personally my spelling was massively effected after the surgery and I had to relearn a lot about balance and walking. I have nothing but faith in you as a parent but consider this from your child's point of view. Not long ago she was (normal) now she feels BROKEN, FRUSTRATED and UGLY in a single horrible word she feels like a (freak). Depression is part of the battle, get her the help she needs or bad things can happen. Please for both of you don't search in vain for the magic wonder pill that will fix everything. Medication is an aid not a cure. SHE IS LOST (in every sense of the word) she needs time to make the extremely personal decision to fight for every day through the pain or not and I know how that sounds but that's the reality of the situation. Show her you love her and just try to listen and understand nothing about this is simple.
Mom, I agree with Abby and wowa. It’s normal to get depressed after surgery, but with returning symptoms it’s even worse. I think 2 months is still pretty soon in recovery and she may still come in and out of old symptoms as she heals. If she does not heal out of the headache I would consider that there may be other issues to look at, specifically cranial cervical instability (I’m assuming she had a decompression only without a cranial cervical fusion??). Not all NSs screen for this in their Chiari pts, so some CCI patients slip through the cracks and continue to have symptoms post decompression. That happened to me, but doing good now after getting the fusion. Not everybody’s journey is over after a decompression. When I went through this it was important to know that there were still some stones to turn- after I realized my decompression was a fail- and there was still some hope. It’s my hope that Kylie will heal out of the pain - and well within the realm of possibility. Just let her know there are still options and if she wants to continue on the journey you will support that.
Hugs, jenn