“How long should someone be on bed rest after a surgery for tumor removal?”
I had a benign tumor against my brain that was successfully removed through surgery. Its been two weeks and I have been resting. How long will I have to rest after such a surgery?
5 Answers
Hello. I recommend that after surgery, you should start resuming normal activity of daily living as soon as possible, especially walking. Being immobile increases your risk of developing blood clots, or venous thromboembolism, which is very common with patient's with meningiomas. I tell my patients to limit heavy lifting, bending, exercise in the 1st two weeks.
Personally, I encourage people to be up and around doing normal light activity, just restraining from strenuous activity (like work out classes or lifting heavy things). I start people out of bed walking 4 hours post op as a norm. Activity reduces post operative risk of complications like deep venous thrombosis and pneumonia and prevents de-conditioning. It also helps psychologically. There can be instances in which less activity may be indicated, but the above is my routine for patients after brain tumor surgery. Best rest being "good" for your is a misunderstanding. Generally it is better to be active and living as normally as possible. If you are not exactly sure what your surgeon wants you doing and not doing, ASK!! All the best to you in your recovery.
It depends on the type of tumor and location of surgery. The bed rest can be as short as 24-48 hours or, if swelling or spinal fluid leaks are concerns, this could increase the length of time.
You shouldn't be on bed rest at all after surgery. You should be up walking the day of surgery, or certainly by the next morning. I'm assuming by "benign tumor against you brain" you mean a meningioma. Almost all of my meningioma patients go home the morning after surgery with a full head of hair, and are out and about in a day or 2, and back to work in less than a week, depending on how strenuous their work is. You should not have any staples to remove or any head wrap or any bandage, and your incision should be completely hidden by your hair immediately after surgery. There are very few, very limited exceptions to this rule, so without knowing exactly where your meningioma was, and how big it was, I can't tell you if you are one of the exceptions. Even then, you should not be on bedrest. The more active you are after surgery, the faster you will feel normal again.
A day or two
