My father in law went in for surgery last Thursday and has actually pretty much recovered from that, besides the fact that they put a chest tube in because he keeps developing air around his lungs. The problem is and the doctors are not coming up with anything is he is not right mentally he does not remember having surgery and lots of other things, he thinks he has been somewhere else you would think after almost 10 days his head would be right does anyone think that any of the medication could have screwed him up mentally? Here is a list of what he has been on..
Fentanyl, Insulin, Mida-50, Epinephrine, Albuterol, Adivant and OxyContin..Or can this be normal after 10 days and he will just snap out of it or can it be permanent? Thanks so much!!
Sorry if you can make sense of what l wrote it has been a long week..
He was also on Versed.
MD is just fine l figured l would run in to a nurse on here before a doctor!! Actually the only med he is on right now is the Oxy everything else he has been off for at least 5 days..

So-- a large surgery alone causes our brains to have a bit of sheel shock time. Sometimes not enough oxygen during the surgery or the time around it happens, & sometimes permanent damages occurs. It is unfortunately one of those risks. BUT please realize that though it may be long, 10 days it not too far out at all. The short answer, YES, the meds will cause amnesia, & it is typically a great side effect, except the family does not get 'credit' for visiting a loved one because a month later they will not often remember any one, or anything that happened -- a good thing much of the time so that the pain & misery r gone. Versed will definitely do it, & fentanyl & Oxycontin & other narcotics can too. If he is still on Epinephrine, then he is still quite sick -- so I'd be beggin for that versed & narcs if it were me. If the amnesia is from these meds, which u can most likely bet it is, then when they r gone, his brain will be a-ok in the future. If it is ''anoxic'' injury, which sometimes does happen, then it may be a slow progression. Most likely -- he will get his head back after the meds r tapered off, he may completely forget the full month after his surgery & be on with life hopefully better than when he came for the surgery.
Good luck.

He could still be under the affects of medication recieved while he was in surgery or on the ventilator. For some people, it takes a longer time to get their heads back on after such a big surgery. 10 days is a long time, but l have seen people act confused for longer after heart surgery, & eventually regain their senses. Even the oxy could be making him a little goofy, & that is a strong medication, especially 10 days after surgery. Being under anesthesia & on the heart lung bypass machine durring surgery can make people a little goofy for a while, it is possible he just needs more time for his head to clear. l would not assume this is a permanent problem. Good luck to you