mental impairment after craniotomy

[rd117a]

My twin sister had a craniotomy last week to repair a CSF leak that could not be repaired by the endoscopic method. She had a hole in her skull and a small amount of brain matter had funneled down into the hole.

Initially, she was kind of "out it" after surgery, but before going home, she was functioning at full mental capacity. They tested her movements, eyes and asked questions to ensure her brain was functioning properly and she was fine.

After being home for one full day, the following day she started talking but would interject things with bizarre statements. For example she would say something like "It supposed to snow today, but the dog has taken the block of cheese." It has been like this for 4 days now. Her statements would be out of context and when I told her this, she refused to accept it and maintains that everything is fine. She would call me and in the middle of the conversation would say these people are trying to reach me and there would be no one there. She does things and denies ever doing them.

It appears to me that there is brain damage which the doctor warned us about as a slight chance of having the surgery. I would appreciate any ones insight into this as it is devastating to me. Is this type of brain damage permanent?