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Matthew Stafford's Wife Hospitalized Again Following Brain Surgery

By Ross Kelly April 24, 2019 at 4:09pm

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford’s wife, Kelly, returned to the hospital after struggling to taper off medication following her brain surgery last week.

On Easter Sunday, Kelly Stafford posted on Instagram that she was leaving the hospital days after a 12-hour surgery that was originally supposed to be six hours.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwiUb2uho-C/

But she struggled in the following days to wean off the steroids that the doctors gave her following the operation.

She posted early Wednesday that she had to go to the emergency room and was back on steroids and pain medication.

“A little update: I thought I could do it. They told me tapering off the steroids was going to be very difficult,” she wrote. “The first picture was yesterday when I was on what I thought was my last day of steroids. I thought I could power through the pain and massive headaches that were challenging me throughout the day. I figured i could pull my strength from one of the strongest people I know, matthew. I told myself the pain would succumb to me, I wouldn’t succumb to it.

“I was so wrong. The pain got so far ahead of me I couldn’t keep anything down, including meds. I ended up in the ER very early this morning, back on steroids and pain medication. At first, I felt like I had failed, like I couldn’t handle it.. but what I really failed at was listening to my own body. A lesson I feel like I am going to have to keep reminding myself of.

“Thank you again for everything. I just wanted to give a little update. They will keep me here overnight just to monitor in hopes of going home in the morning.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwpdlBGhLFa/

Stafford had missed the first week of the Lions offseason program to help care for his wife. After she was released from the hospital Sunday, he returned to the team facility Monday.

He had been told by the Lions to take as much time as needed to care for Kelly. It’s unclear how her setback will affect his availability for Detroit’s offseason workouts.

The Staffords began dating as undergraduate students at the University of Georgia and married in 2015.

They have three young daughters, and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is the godfather to one of the girls. Ryan was in attendance for their daughters’ baptisms last month.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvt4Ak7hTGw

The Lions will hold their OTAs in late May and early June. Their mandatory minicamp will take place June 4-6.

Stafford will be entering his 11th season in the NFL after being the first overall pick in the 2009 NFLdraft.

He is the franchise’s all-time leader in essentially every passing category, including yards, touchdowns and wins by a starting quarterback.

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