Your tips: How to support someone recovering from brain surgery?

I needed pain meds for 1 day post op. After that it was no big deal. Wife overprotective and suffocating me with attention. I wanted to go back to work within 2 weeks.

I went from being semi connected to the real world to instantly feeling almost completely myself again, a wonderful feeling! She may have to go through a week or so of steroids, which were not fun, kept me up all night. Perhaps 1/2 tab of 25mg Xanax, at doctor’s suggestion, which worked well to get me to sleep. Thrush also arrived, but Cepacol spray helped along with gargling medicine from doctor. Just let her sleep or read as needed. Whatever medicine the doctor prescribes from then on. It’s all a very good thing — I’m so glad I did it!

I had emergency surgery because the meningiomas bled, a hemorrhagic stroke, (not recommended) and so my recovery was slow, but steady. I don’t remember any pain, but maybe because of pain medicine? But it took me 18 months to be all the way ‘back’ to fully thinking and reasoning.

I had my meningioma 8 hr surgery back in October. I was in the hospital 2 days and very ready to leave by the third day. I also was on the pain meds only one day after that - then some Tylenol once in a while. It was not too bad!
We really appreciated a few family members around. REALLY appreciated a few meals folks dropped by. That's maybe the best way to help and show your support. Everyone in the home with the patient will be recovering from the ordeal too and no one wants to plan and fix meals. At least that's how it was for us.
Daily checkins even by phone or text for the first week or so were appreciated. Maybe one family member could send updates to a list of those wanting to show support so only one email or text informs many. That worked for us.
Hopefully your sister-in-law will be able to enjoy relaxing with frequent naps and movies, etc within the first few days! It's great that you are supporting her!

I agree with all of that! People giving food was soo helpful! We had a few family members stay for a couple weeks to help out too! It was great!

Hi @km2214, I hope you saw the helpful tips from members as you care for your sister-in-law as she recovers from surgery for meningioma.

Here's a related discussion where members going through treatment share how they respond to offers of help and which offers helped them:
- How do you respond to offers of help? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-do-you-respond-to-offers-of-help/

It can be hard to know what help truly is helpful when you're not the main caregiver. You want to help and not add to their burden or be annoying or smothering, like you said. When I'm in this situation, I look for ways to help the caregiver. They are so focused on caring for the patient and often neglect their needs. I offer things like picking up groceries or running errands, or sitting with your sister-in-law so the caregiver can get out. Maybe they would like to run errands or have time for themselves. In one family situation, my cousin asked me to be the communicator. She shared information with me and it was my task to write updates to the family chat, field questions and assign tasks where appropriate. I really liked that job and it made me feel useful.

@km2214, it's been a couple of weeks since surgery. How is your sister-in-law doing? What ways have you found that helped out the family? What tips would you offer others here?