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Teens with AN -did you have problems with irrationality before or after surgery?

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krmilmont:
My son was diagnosed with a 5 X 7 cm tumor when he was just 16 years old.  The tumor was pressing on his brain stem so severly that spinal fluid had built up in the center of his brain.  A 16 hour surgery removed much of the tumor, the remaining tumor was radiated 9 months later to halt growth.  It's been a year an a half since the surgery and 9 months since the radiation.  He still is unable to move his face, tho the facial nerve is intact, just worn out, say the docs.

It's been a long road, to say the least.  He graduated from HS thru all of this, but now we have discovered that he made some very irrational decisions a few months before the surgery and continued to make them until they were discovered just recently. 

Has anyone else ever had this problem?  We've read some of these forums that refer to "foggy brains."  Could this also cause a person to make poor choices because of the trauma to the brain?

Boppie:
Foggy brain is a word we use around here.  The truama of AN treatment is extremely difficult for a very young person.   It sounds like you need to keep in touch with the neurologist and a personal counselor in trauma psychology for adolescents.

tony:
Sorry to hear of the little ones problems
there two quite different issues

Type A is the "forgotten to switch the light off
- lock the car - close the sunroof - or cant find the wallet etc etc"
These are short term memory overload type issues
which many on this list would understand
Normal for the condition - and in time get better

Type B is more like "Post Traumatic Stress Type Issues
- or Post OP deppression etc etc"
an AN has a rather uncomfortable way of reminding
us all that we are not immortal
- he was very young to deal with all of this

My suggestion is have a think about what you saw.
B to some degree, may require assistance
from qualified specialists
A can be helped with Cognitive therapy
- still specialists but a quite different area
The course depends a bit on the exact cause ?

Best Regards
Tony

Joef:
Don't give up on the face movement yet! ... I'm 2 years soon ... and I'm still seeing some improvement ... (and I had almost none the first year!  >:( ) 

krmilmont:
Yes, this was a mistake, my son's tumor was 5X7 centimeters, not millimeters.  So, it was a huge one and had been there for a long while before it was discovered.,...

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