Tag: surgery

New Neurosurgeon..

Darren Long1 Comment

Went to the hospital and met a new Neurosurgeon today.  We discussed this new brain surgery to fix my tremor. The surgery that’s on my left-side of my brain and fixes the tremor on the right-side of the body. The surgeon explained the WHOLE thing.

The tests before…
The surgery itself…
The outcome afterwards…

Well, all these tests we talked about were the same ones I did before my previous brain surgery. Doing those again, to me, is not a big deal. Not as many tests as last time. No surprises there. Having to do any & all of these tests is not a problem for me…

This surgery (I’ve written about earlier) is not commonly used with people who had a previous brain damage, like me. I was curious as to what a Neurosurgeon had to say about this.

After all this…. well… it will NOT be a 100% fix for the tremor on the right-side of my body. I was basically told that my tremor may either be somewhat better OR not fixed at all.

With all this surgery as being so risky, I personally just turned it down. This arm/hand just “shakes”. I’ve been this way for 30+ years. I’m good. I’ll pass…

WHAT’S NEXT?

Counting….

Darren Long2 Comments

Did the PreOp today. No big deal. Had some blood drawn, which I didn’t do last time. I did figure out the times for the MRI before the surgery which will be 6:30. Check in there at 6:00. Then go up to surgery check in and wait…

I counted my MRI’s today. The official number of MRI scans that I have had within the last year, plus this one, will be….. drum roll please…. 9! I will have had 9 MRI scans.

125 Staples.

Three Spect Scans.

One Wada.

One Pet Scan.

One Cognitive Test.

Now I’m scratching my dented head to think of what else….

The Date for the Next Surgery.

Darren Long1 Comment

We just got “the call” from the hospital and they told us the surgery will be Thursday, January 23rd. Two weeks from today. Now that we know when that is, I need to get myself ready. I think I’ll be better this time around than the last. I have a bit more of an idea of what to expect this time around.

Curious as to how this/these cuts will come out since I can still feel the “dents” in my skull on the top of my head from the last surgery.

This is Darren blogging again before another surgery…

Darren Long2 Comments

Thanks for the prayers. Let me tell you I have some WiCkEd scars on the top and side of my head. Cuts going all over the place. These cuts and scars really leave me with quite the headache. The top/front of my head kills me at times, then I have the nurse give me some meds. I have a mesh-type beenie to cover my scarred head where the scan devices on the inside/outside of my brain. The mesh helps keep the my brain “leakage” under control.

Early Friday morning about 3 o’clock or so I woke up in a daze like state, pretty confused and my head hurt like crazy.  I knew I needed to go to the restroom. When I opened my eyes, it was hard to see and by this time in the week I had become aware enough to recognize that I had some kind of wires or something hanging – coming out of the top of my head. This- I also had a tremendous headache. Stood up out of bed and the cords from my skull yanked my head down. I grabbed the ones on the left side and pulled them straight out.  The next thing I know there is repeated drops of blood all over me and the floor. I felt them as they were being jerked out of my skull. I started screaming bloody murder.Four nurses came in after my wife yelled for help. They cleaned me up and prepped me for a CT scan.

Over the weekend, it seemed as though my brain was healing. Started to be more awake and could think better. But I have also had a tremendous headache that I am continually taking pain medication for.

Jaw is killing me because of the holes in the side of my head that are drilled are on  the jaw muscle. Chewing is difficult and painful. Opening my mouth is next to impossible, but the doctor is giving me directions on how to do exercises for my jaw when I leave the hospital.

Monday morning is the next surgery and that is to take out the leads including those that are frayed and broken inside my skull. After doing this I will blog about the options.

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Monday morning now. The doc just came in and let me know I am #2. So, about 11:00 or 12:00 or 1:00 before they take me away and another hour before they chop me back open.

Friday is it.

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I’m going home on Friday. Yeah! Finally. Spent Thursday in this room by myself reading my Kindle. Just chilling till Friday. This is not the last of the tests. I have several more to do later this year. If everything works out, I’ll be able to get the brain surgery later this year. If it doesn’t work out, there’s always the VNS implant.

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