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Wife of Lions QB Matthew Stafford hospitalized again after brain surgery

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ASSOCIATED PRESS / 2015

In this photo, Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, right, smiles while watching the Detroit Pistons play the Cleveland Cavaliers with his wife Kelly, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Kelly Stafford, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, is back in the hospital, but she hopes it’s just an overnight stay.

Just a week after brain surgery, Stafford wrote on Instagram today she had to go to an emergency room in the morning after dealing with expected pain from weaning off steroids and that she will be monitored at the hospital overnight with hopes of going home on Thursday.

Kelly was released from the hospital on Sunday after surgery on April 17. On Monday, Matthew was back at work at the Lions’ practice facility in Allen Park for offseason conditioning after missing the first week.

Kelly’s 12-hour surgery to remove a brain tumor went twice as long as expected because of “an abnormal vein,” she wrote in a previous post.

Stafford posted three pictures on Instagram and wrote a revealing message that began with Tuesday, when she was supposed to be coming off steroids and knew what side effects were coming.

“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,” she wrote.

View this post on Instagram

A little update: I thought I could do it. They told me tapering off the steroids was going to be very difficult. 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.

A post shared by Kelly Stafford (@kbstafford89) on

But it sounds as if pain was too much to bear.

“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,” Stafford wrote.

One of the photos shows Kelly and Matthew apparently climbing stairs. The final photo shows her in a hospital bed, presumably from today.

“At first, I felt like I had failed, like I couldn’t handle it,” Kelly wrote. “(B)ut 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.”

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