Brain Surgery

Right before the major surgery Bredt drove down from Pennsylvania with his friend Gretchen that was going to college in Florida.  This not only gave him a chance to say good-bye to Gretchen, but to see me right before surgery. Once he dropped her off at Florida Sate University he came to the hospital to see me. I was excited to see him and have more company. 

 

Bredt and I

 

On Friday August 28^th 1998 I was taken to the operating room for brain surgery. I was placed under general endotracheal anesthesia (loss of the ability to feel pain). The doctors put me on my left side so they could open up the right temporal incision. Since I had gone into surgery with the subdural electrodes still intact, not only did they have to remove them, but they would also have to remove the staples that were keeping my brain enclosed. Once the staples were removed the doctors would open it all the way down to the bone. Once they removed the electrodes on the right side of the brain the doctors irrigated the area closed it with layer of closure of the temporalis fascia, then subcutaneously, and then absorbable sutures to the skin. 

 

Electrodes connected to my brain

 

They then put me on my right side so my left side would be turned uppermost. The doctors would again remove the staples then open up the large left temporal occipital parietal frontal scalp flap and would remove the electrodes. Following this, the dura (the tough outermost membrane enveloping the brain and spinal cord) was opened more posteriorly, and the brain was exposed. The doctors then removed the occipital (deals with vision) and posterior temporal cortex (deals with recognition/processing of speech) to midline structures. The mesial temporal lobe (essential for declarative memory (conscious memory for facts and events) short and long-term memory) structures were also removed by removing the hippocampus. In the end they removed a large porencephalic cyst with large membranes, which had a big impact on my seizure activity. These types of cysts are very rare and form on the cerebral hemisphere, the top of the brain.

After everything that needed to be removed was done they closed the brain up with silk running sutures (92 to be exact). The scalp itself was closed in layers with vicryl and prolene an absorbable, synthetic braided suture that is indicated for skin closure and general soft tissue approximation and ligation. By doing this it would include minimal tissue reactivity and durability. Luckily, my whole head of hair did not need to be shaved off. By braiding my hair they just had to shave the sides around my ears and a small center portion on the top of my head. After over 8 hours of surgery I was taken to the ICU where I would be monitored for 24 hours.

The doctors then talked to my parents and let them know that the surgery went well. They told my mom and dad that there would be a 65% to 75% chance that I would be seizure free. They were told that if a seizure were to recur, it would probably happen within the first six months after surgery. The doctors directed my parents that I should only take 400 mg of Tegretol twice a day compared to 4275 mg of 3 different medications I was on prior to surgery. Also, if I needed anything for pain I was to take Tylenol. They let my parents know that they would want to see me again in 6 months for an update to see how everything was going.  Two days after surgery I was discharged from the hospital and packing up getting ready to fly home.

The night before we left to fly home my parents took me out to one of the many restaurants they went to during their time they spent in Miami. It was an oriental restaurant. When we arrived to the restaurant everyone seemed so frazzled. My parents had asked them what all the commotion was about. The waiter had told us that Jackie Chan had just finished dinner when we got there.  However, we had missed him. Also, since my parents had been to the restaurant before, the staff knew all about me. They were so nervous to meet me because they had never seen someone who had brain surgery. Now that my parents had the chance to take me to the restaurant the staff was very nice to me. The next day we were on our way home to Pennsylvania.