How long should it take someone to be alert/awake after brain surgery?

Question

My husband's Uncle had a large benign brain tumor removed. The surgery was suppose to take about 5 hours but ended up taking over 12 hours. It has been 30 hours and he is not awake and is not responding to commands, the dr's are quiet and put a feeding tube in within 12 hours of surgery. His wife is scared and trying not to ask tough questions. Is it right to assume he is in a coma? or after such a long surgery does it take days to wake up? I am going to the hospital in the morning to ask questions for her and I want honest not fluffy answers, the hospital is over 300 miles away from our home and everyone needs to know realistic answers. Any advice about what to ask, or what tests to ask about (I know there is some test that they flash light or do something to the eyes to test how alert a patient is?) would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Well, best thing to ask is how much brain activity he's presenting.  The fact of the matter is that brain surgery is always very touch and go, even with a benign tumor.  Even a small mistake could lead to devestating results.  The good thing is that doctors do have ways to monitor brain activity, and they might be able to tell you something to that regard.  The truth is that he could be in a coma, that's a reason you'd ask.  At the same time, it's a likely possibility that he's just recovering from it, and that the surgery caused some unseen but still impermanent damage.  It could be any number of things.  Best to just ask the doctors to be straight with you on it, they'll tell you what they know.