Category: Brain

Heard from KU Med

Darren Long1 Comment

KU Med contacted me and let me know that I would not need another MRI before the surgery. Before they had said that they wanted me to have another one to make sure they have a good picture of the damaged area. After looking closer to the MRI scan already done, it was decided that another MRI was not needed.

I’ll need a blood test at my pre-op and will have to sit down with a pharmacist to discus meds that I can and cannot take.

Asked about the time-span in the hospital and the they said the 1st surgery of drilling the 6 holes and putting the things on my brain will last about 2 weeks to wait for a seizure to happen. When that does happen, I can go ahead and have the 2nd operation which will be the operation on the brain itself. After that, I stay in the hospital 3 more days.

I hope I explained this good enough. Trust me, I didn’t understand when my doctor explained it to me the first time either. I will be in the hospital the entire time between the first and second operations. The second operation is all set after I have my seizure with the probes covering my brain, not before then. Still, it is not set of stone as to if I will have this second operation. If the docs/surgeon don’t feel the second surgery is 100% safe and might effect other things (sight, etc.) then they will not go through with it. I’ll wait for another way to help me a few years down the road.

Over 2 weeks in the hospital. I do like Chipotle , but I may not be up to eating burritos. The side holes are going to be right at my jaw muscles and I may not be very up to opening my mouth, at least the first few days or so. Have to wait and see…

It’s Thursday, and I talked to the surgeon…

Darren LongLeave a comment

It’s Thursday and got back from talking from the surgeon. I learned one thing off the bat, a surgeon just does the surgery and can answer questions about that. Not the other questions I had about the recovery time, etc. This is fine, now I know.

What I learned: (these dates are not set in stone)

October 14th is my pre-op appointment.

November 4th is when I have the Intercranial Grid. This when they are going to be drilling SIX holes into my head: 2 in my temporal, 2 in the mid-side and 2 near the back. The EEG leads will be placed through each of the holes and directly onto my brain.

My head will be wrapped up like a turban.

They’ll be taking me off my meds and we will wait for a seizure to occur, just like what happened when I had the Video EEG back in April.  (What fun!) This can take up to 2 weeks!! ARG! Laying around with probes in my head for two weeks….

If they can clearly tell where the seizures are happening (and the surgery will not effect my speech or motor skills), then they will go ahead with the surgery. If they do not feel 100% comfortable to do the surgery right away, they will stitch me up and the Neurologist has a month to look at the charts of my brain to determine if I am still a candidate for surgery.

IF SO, I’ll go back in and do the surgery. IF NOT, there are other procedures down-the-road that may be available. Down-the-road, meaning a couple years.

Wada… Ugh.

Darren Long2 Comments

Man-o-man. I’m still dizzy and out of it from that, but that is understandable after having your brain put asleep one half at a time. Only thing keeping me up right now is caffeine.

Had to get to the hospital by 8:30, but the Wada didn’t start till 10. One of the things they had to do before I got got wheeled away was to put the probes on my head for a constant EEG. This is done during the Wada is being done to make sure the side of my brain that was needed to be put asleep, was. I laid on the table fully awake for two hours while they shut off half my brain at a time and asked me questions after each one is shut off. They asked me these questions before I went into the operating room to compare the answers too, but I think I flunked the ones before the Wada started.

I was wheeled into the operating room where everyone had their masks on. Before then, I hadn’t really thought of this as being a full fledged procedure needing to be done in an operating room. Never the less, there were plenty of people in this room. Have to remember this is KU Med, a teaching hospital. As far as getting myself “shaved” and ready for the Wada, I had to settle for the cutest nurse in the room…

Then the guy came to insert the “plug” into the vein in my groin. The guy didn’t even warn me as to what the hell he was doing, when he was starting or as to how freakishly much/weird it was going to hurt. I just held it in like a man. Fine. Got it. ouch.

I know the first thing they did was inject the dye to show off the veins in my brain. This way the x-ray machine that was floating around my head, and looked as if it was going to crush my head, could easily see my brain from all angles. Then this guy that had just put the plug into me was… doing something. He was either squeezing something into the plug-thing or injecting something. Felt like squeezing, but I’m just laying on still on my back with my head in a brace, so I can’t see anything down there. When it was injected or squeezed in, the entire right side of my body (from head to toe) got really hot for just a couple seconds. This is the injection of the “barbiturate sodium amytal” (amobarbital) to half the brain. Now, this half of the brain isn’t asleep right then. The Psych guy asked me to put my arms in the air and count down from 20. I only got to the lower teens before I lost my way of talking.

Anyway… You catch my drift. I’m starting to forget exactly what happens next and what order… Kinda hard to remember everything perfectly when your brain is asleep.

I was asked the same type of questions just like I was before this whole thing started while one side then the other was asleep. That’s it.

One More Test!?!

Darren Long1 Comment

Finally got ahold of the lady at the hospital that I need to talk to about getting the appointments set up with the doctors/surgeon to have a meeting next week about my surgery in September. She told me that “yes” the doctors/surgeon had talked about me this week and decided that they wanted one more test. The Wada Test. This is the test that I was told is a “dangerous” type test, and would only be done as a last resort. (Guess I got that far)

Wada Wada Wada…  Let me find a good description on the web to copy over…

The neuroradiologist inserts a catheter (a long, narrow tube) into an artery, usually in the leg (groin). The catheter is directed to the right or left internal carotid artery in the neck, which supplies the brain with blood. Once the catheter is in place, a dye is injected. Some patients report a warm sensation when this happens. The dye can be seen on a special x-ray machine. This machine takes pictures of the dye as it flows through the blood vessels of the brain. Once the angiogram is done, the catheter will stay in place for the Wada.

During a Wada, the neuroradiologist puts one side of your brain to sleep for a few minutes. This is done by injecting sodium amobarbital (also called sodium amytal) into the right or left internal carotid artery. If the right carotid artery is injected, the right side of the brain goes to sleep and can’t communicate with the left side. Once the physicians are sure that one side of your brain is asleep, the neuropsychologist shows you objects and pictures. The awake side of the brain tries to recognize and remember what it sees.

After just a few minutes, the sodium amobarbital wears off. The side that was asleep starts to wake up. Once both sides of your brain are fully awake, the neuropsychologist will ask you what was shown. If you don’t remember what you saw, items are shown one at a time, and you are asked whether you saw each one before. Your responses will be recorded word-for-word.

After a delay, the other side of the brain is put to sleep. To do this, the catheter is withdrawn part of the way and threaded into the internal carotid artery on the other side. A new angiogram is done for that side of the brain. Different objects and pictures are shown, and the awake side (which was asleep before) tries to recognize and remember what it sees. Once both sides are awake again, you will be asked what was shown the second time. Then you are shown items one at a time and asked whether you just saw each item.

I’m reading some more things on this web page about safety and so forth. I’ll just keep that info to myself….

Told on the phone this takes two hours. NEXT WEEK is when I’m doing this and NEXT WEEK is when I’m meeting with the doctors. Just have to figure out what day/time.