Matthew Stafford's Wife Kelly Back in Hospital Days After Brain Surgery: 'I Thought I Could Do It'

Kelly Stafford, wife of Detroit Lions Quarterback Matthew Stafford, is back in the hospital only several days after a 12-hour surgery to remove her brain tumor.

In a lengthy Instagram post, Kelly, 29, detailed her struggles with pain since the procedure, and how it resulted in her return to the hospital.

“I thought I could do it,” the caption began. “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.”

The first of the three pictures that the former cheerleader posted depicted her laying on the couch. The second picture showed she and husband Matthew, 31, walking up the stairs smiling, while the third depicted Kelly now in a hospital bed.

“I thought I could power through the pain and massive headaches that were challenging me throughout the day,” the post continued. “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.”

The post then transitioned to her return to the hospital, saying, “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.”

Kelly endured her tumor removal surgery only several days ago, after she revealed in early April that doctors found a benign tumor, known as an acoustic neuroma, resting on her cranial nerves. Leading up to her diagnosis, Kelly had experienced severe bouts of vertigo while spending time with the couple’s young daughters, Chandler and Sawyer.

RELATED: Lions Quarterback Matthew Stafford’s Wife Returns Home After Brain Surgery to Remove Tumor

“At first, I felt like I had failed, like I couldn’t handle it,” the caption added. “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.”

Concluding the lengthy post, Kelly wrote, “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.”

On Easter Sunday, Kelly uploaded a series of pictures to Instagram that showed her in a wheelchair and surrounded by family after the operation, which was scheduled to last six hours but stretched to 12 when the surgeon discovered an “abnormal” vein in her skull.

While the procedure was seemingly successful, Kelly — who also shares 8-month-old daughter Hunter Hope with her NFL husband — alluded to her health issues post-surgery on her Instagram story on Monday.

“Sitting in this dark room in pain, but trying to hold off on meds because I want to see my kids. I want to be coherent and in the moment,” she wrote.

“Tomorrow, it’ll have been a whole week that I haven’t seen them and my heart aches,” Kelly added. “Balancing, in general, is incredibly hard right now … balancing kids and brain surgery is nearly impossible.”