Hey all,
Dani our 13yrold daughter had her chiari decompression this past tuesday, she was moved out of ICU today ,
Tuesday night we noticed the facial swelling after surgery , Wednsday morn it was pretty much gone , however when we went up today the left side of her face is swollen again( she is leaning her head to the left to sleep )
They say this is the reason why any ideas?
Also today was the first time that she sat up and walked at all she has excruciating frontal headaches now that she DID NOT have before surgery, the docs seem to think this is caused by the spinal fluid being able to flow properly now and her head not being use to this.
She is on a pump of Fentinal(sp) that she can self dose every 10 min and Tylenol w/codeine , but it doesnt seem to help the pain , ( she has only been below a 5 on the scale of 1-10) twice.
Her hightest pain was actually this morn ( before she moved ) and that headache was a 10
She has a high tolerance for pain generally so this makes me worried

Any ideas at all?
Also noting that when she sits up we can see how extensive her swelling still is .
Did manage to comb out her hair today (lots of detangler spray) and get it braided so its not so matted.
Any encouraging words would be appreciated

Thanks
deb

My 50 yr old sister had the surgery last fall. She is doing great. You do have to get used to the correct flow of things after surgery. the doctors told her this also. She never had any headaches after surgery, but it is common. Just rest assured that things will get better day by day. My sister feels like a new person............and your daughter will too...........just be patient................