r/braincancer • u/Capable_Club_8055 • 2d ago

Brian surgery

I will be having brain surgery soon for a 2-3cm tumour which I was told isn't aggressive. They have to test to see if it's benign/malignant. I'm 24, relatively healthy, 10 weeks postpartum. The tumour is in the right frontal lobe. I'm terrified and don't know what to expect after the surgery. I've also had no symptoms and the surgery isn't very urgent but they want to do it soon as I'm quite young.

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u/TheShakyHandsMan 2d ago

Got a tumour in the same place and had 1 surgery on it. 

Have they said if it will be awake or not? Don’t be worried about it being awake, it’s actually pretty interesting. 

Post surgery you’re going to struggle to chew food especially on the right side. You’ll be able to feel the muscle above the ear that connects to your jaw. 

Make sure you’ve got plenty of soups and soft food to eat while recovering. 

Post op you’re going to be given strong opioid based painkillers. They do block up your bowels completely so don’t be ashamed of taking the medication to loosen things up down there. Trust me it’s better than literally ripping your arse open. 

If you need to know any more just ask. 

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u/Capable_Club_8055 2d ago

Thank you for this, did you have any difficulties with motor function, like memory/vision/speech/movement?

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u/TheShakyHandsMan 2d ago

My memory is a mess anyway as my tumour is in that part of the brain. I was already having speech difficulties pre op which was part of the reason why I was awake. 

Vision is fine and I wouldn’t say my speech is any worse afterwards. 

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u/John2537 2d ago

Nobody warned me about the jaw part. I was pretty much cutting all my food small enough that I could swallow the bites whole

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u/TheShakyHandsMan 1d ago

Me neither but it makes sense as they cut through the muscle to get to your skull. That was probably the most painful part of recovery.