Leslie Asks:

My character has been in a car accident and sustained head damage (swelling to the brain)— is there a medical term for that? Also, the swelling becomes so bad the doctors have to remove part of her skull— is there a name for that? How long does that swelling usually take before it goes down so they can replace the skull? Does the character regain consciousness? I have her in an induced coma which I want her in for a while.

Jordyn Says:

Upon further clarification of this question from the author, she says there is not a significant description of the motor vehicle collision in the manuscript and the scene is being told from the POV of a nurse.

The brain swelling is called cerebral edema. Usually, if it’s a significant car accident then there is usually bleeding as well. This is why I ask about the car accident. It should be pretty serious.

A nurse will use language that a family can understand. So, I might actually avoid a lot of medical terminology when speaking to the family unless I also clarify what the words mean.

I might say something like, “Your mother (or whatever relation) has a lot of swelling in her brain as a result of the car accident. We call this cerebral edema.”

A craniectomy is where they remove a portion of the skull.

Peak brain swelling is generally 48-72 from the time of injury and diminishes from there. Induced coma is a reasonable medical scenario here.

Whether or not this patient regains consciousness is up to you as the writer. Statically, the odds are pretty low for her to be the same person she was before. If she does wake up, she’ll have extensive rehab needs for sure– but you could write it either way.

Best of luck with your story!