Karen and I went with Lisa to her Dr appt with the surgeon who will perform her surgery. We have made the hard decision of Lisa having the surgery. It is a risk, but it is also something that we need to do to try to prevent further memory loss. It might work, it might not. We hope and pray that it will be beneficial for Lisa and that she will be seizure free. Lisa is ready.
Parker, who is 20 months old, went with us to the appt. He took one look at the patient room and wailed, really got a bit upset, thinking we were there for him and he was going to see the Dr. It was cute...but not when the dr is trying to have a conversation with you. Karen took him out and he was just fine in the hallway. Karen was thanked by Lisa and the Dr on that one. She was able to listen in on the conversation though through the crack of the door.
Lisa got really quiet and scooted her chair closer to mine and leaned her shoulder on mine. She is nervous...I am nervous!!!!
Dr Tracy was very nice and was very patient with our many questions. He explained that there will be a question mark like incision over her left temperal lobe. It is above her ear. Her left brain is smaller than her right brain. He said He does the 1st surgery on Monday and puts a grid inside her head on the surface of the brain. It is an internal measure to figure out where in her brain the seizures are coming from. They then reduce meds so she will have seizures. When they get enough data on the seizure activity, they proceed with the 2nd surgery. this part of the surgery is when they go in and take out the part where the seizures are coming from. Each surgery takes 2-3 hours.He said that it usually takes place on Thursday, but sometimes earlier. We are thinking earlier. Lisa had an external observation a couple of years ago that recorded by video tape and round the clock observation by drs and nurses. She had sooo many seizures! Dad and Karen spent the nights with her while she was there. Lisa was a trooper though and didn't complain too much...well, not as much as she could have.
The risks are: memory loss, stroke, spinal infection, vision loss...
but the benefits are significantly lower amount of seizures (we hope) and the possibility of NO seizures. That would be awesome.
Lisa wanted to do the surgery after sidewalk sale. She wants some control here! Karen and I explained that the sooner the better. We are going to shoot for late May or June. She will be in the hospital for 7 days if all goes well and would be able to go back to work in a week or 2! One of us will be with her throughout the procedure. She will be grumpy I'm sure, but I would be too if I had wires sticking out of my head and was in the hospital forever!
I asked the dr how many he has performed...about 25-30 so far. He has 2 scheduled before her now, so we need to get her on the schedule. more to come later!
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