Schuller Suffers Setback in His Recovery : Evangelist: Medication to combat complication of brain surgery fails to take effect.

The condition of Rev. Robert H. Schuller worsened Thursday after doctors discovered that medication to deal with a complication from the minister’s emergency brain operation did not take effect.

Michael Nason, a Schuller spokesman, said physicians at the Free University Hospital reclassified the minister’s condition from stable to guarded, a change he described as relatively minor. Despite the complication, Nason said, physicians have told family members that Schuller will make a full recovery.

The popular televangelist and pastor of Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral underwent emergency brain surgery for a blood clot Monday after he reportedly hit his head getting into a car. He was returned to intensive care Wednesday when doctors found swelling and residual amounts of blood between his brain and skull.

Nason said the drug Mannitol was prescribed to check the swelling, but doctors found Thursday that Schuller had not responded to it yet.

Physicians have scheduled another brain scan for today to determine whether the layer of residual blood has increased.

Commenting on the status of Schuller’s health, Nason said: “Doctors have assured Mrs. Schuller and the family that this condition is temporary and reversible and is secondary to his initial injury and surgery.”

Arvella Schuller said her husband “is better than I had hoped for.” She said his face is still swollen from the operation, but that he is regaining strength in his hands and responding well to small talk.

Schuller’s wife and son, Robert A. Schuller, plan to remain in Amsterdam and accompany him home. Doctors continue to expect that he will be released from the hospital next week, but Thursday’s change might add a few stays to his stay.

With the driving force of the Crystal Cathedral sidelined by the head injury, family and associates said Thursday that the leadership of the 10,000-member congregation might become more diverse should Schuller become less active.

Decision making could be shared by close relatives and the church’s top clergy, family members said. Among them are Schuller’s son and Schuller’s son-in-law, Jim Coleman, president of Crystal Cathedral Ministries; and co-pastor Bruce Larson, who has assumed the day-to-day operation of the Crystal Cathedral in Schuller’s absence.

Schuller was stricken en route to Moscow to reinstate his program “Heart to Heart” over the state-owned broadcast network, Gostelradio, and to deliver a videotape of a sermon to air on Soviet television.

Robert A. Schuller had planned to leave Thursday for Moscow to deliver the videotape. But the Soviet Union’s consular office in The Netherlands refused to grant him a visa, despite intervention by U.S. Embassy officials, both Schuller and embassy officials said.

The videotape was sent on to Moscow, where it will be handed over to officials of Gostelradio.

Times staff writer Dan Weikel contributed to this story, reporting from Orange County. Correspondent Michael Glennon reported from Amsterdam.