Glad to be home and no longer driving.
And for the news you’ve all been waiting for. Yep, same advice from this Doctor as all the others.
More details, Mrs Weer’ds epilepsy originates from her Right Temporal lobe, and has been getting progressively worse over the last several years. On her Right Temporal lobe is a fluid filled hole that has been there for as long as people have been peering inside her head. So chances are the abnormality is the culprit, and needs to go. Since medication is not working for us, surgery is looking like the best option.
The Doctor concurred that surgery is the best option, and also will hold a good prognosis.
The surgery recomended is an Anterior Temporal Lobe Resection with resection of the lesion. Our big question is weather the right hippocampus which will make up a large portion of the tissue removed, and appears to be mostly healthy on brain scans should be removed.
Again the consensus is the lesion is right on the portion of the hippocampus that receives data from the rest of the brain, and its quite possible it isn’t even functional now, and even greater possibility that removal of the lesion will completely knock it out of functionality . On top of that the hippocampus will no longer have its input feed from the brain, but will still have its output attached, meaning it won’t be able to process data, but it can still export seizure activity if by chance it is part of the Mrs.’s seizure complex.
So hippocampus, your not doing us any favors, and it would be best if you weren’t in my wife’s head anymore.
Again further assurance that most likely any cognitive detriments from this surgery won’t be noticeable except to specialized tests.
So the surgery at Mass General Hospital remains scheduled for the end of August. Not a fun prospect for either of us, but the idea of a high probability of seizure freedom is just something that still takes my breath away.
When the medication started to loose effect and the Mrs. was forced to hang up the driver’s license I thought this was what we’d live with until the end of our days.
Things are looking very good for us, and thank you all for your support!
That is indeed good news – keep us posted. I hate to wish away a summer, but I hope August arrives quickly for you two.
Good luck to both of you!
I have to admit, when it comes to cutting out a part of your wife’s brain, you all are handling it a hell of a lot better than I probably would :). Best of luck to the both of you, and we will be thinking about you.
Eh, the human brain is remarkably fault-tolerant. Best of luck to you and the Mrs., Weer’d.
Well its the same idea if one of us had heart disease. Yeah the surgery is major, and unpleasant and will have a fairly long recovery time. But the disease is disabling, and worse yet, degenerative. She’s getting worse as time progresses, so even if we sit back and deal with the multiple minor seizures she has in her very productive life, eventually things will only get worse and the end result is severe brain damage and likely wildly uncontrolled epilepsy.
On top of all of this, we’ve been told of a cure where we thought none existed.
There is a lot to look forward too. But I’ll be a fucking mess towards the end of August, just you watch!
But I’ll be a fucking mess towards the end of August, just you watch!
That’s understandable. But at least there’s a decent chance at a cure, which is a very good positive.
Well I am glad things are falling into place. Cutting out a part of the brain ? That’s hardcore.
I’ll be keeping both of youse in my thoughts… hang tough.
Hope all goes well.