[jpwilkin]

Four months ago, my wife had a major accident, suffered a moderate-to-major TBI (right side, front to back) and almost died. Things were touch and go for a short period of time, and then she started making a remarkable recovery. Within a month, she was released for intensive rehab. She's 48, incredibly smart and healthy, and has been fortunate in all sorts of ways. For example, her memory is perfect (better than mine) and she tests off the charts for vocabulary. In the first few weeks, she gained strength in her left side and was walking comfortable for as much as a mile. For the last two months, however, things are a little diminished. She has more left side weakness today than she did when she left the hospital, and much less than the couple of weeks after she was released. Her executive functions have been affected and I think at this point they're about the same or perhaps worse. I've tried to talk to her neurosurgical team, a neuro-opthamologist (her left optic path is badly damaged), and her rehab doctors about this, and get little meaningful feedback. The first time I brought it up, we were told to get an emergency CT scan, which revealed nothing (it was "unchanged"). The rehab team worries about the apparent losses, which in turn makes me worry. My question is really a simple one: will there be losses, as well as gains? Will she occasionally have re-swelling of the brain until things settle down? Incidentally, the lead neurosurgeon has postponed replacement of her skull flap until late this year, which I believe implies things haven't settled down yet.