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22 year old nervous about brain surgery
Tue, 09/27/2011 - 11:38Hi, this is my first post
I'm 22 and have had partial complex seizures my whole life. I've recently been looking into surgery now that I've graduated college and want to live out on my own and can't drive. Over the past 6 months I've had a variety of tests that I'm sure many of you have had...EEG's, PET scans, MRI's etc..and those were just to locate the seizure activity.
I met with a neurosurgeon and he told me that through the tests they couldn't exactly locate where my seizures were coming from, but that it was the right side of the brain, and most likely it was the parietal lobe. They want to do 4 surgeries in a matter of 6 months, the first of which includes putting a GRID in my brain to possibly pinpoint exactly where my seizures are coming from. I guess I would just like to know if any of you have experience with this or have had this surgery before. I'm nervous trying to make a decision because of the risks..swelling of the brain, loss of cognitive function afterwards etc...I mean is it worth the 50/50 chance of being seizure free?
Comments
Re: 22 year old nervous about brain surgery
Submitted by T Davis on Sat, 2012-01-07 - 01:28
Hi Sberra01-
Checking into how things have been since your surgery. We've connected one other time in a different chat. I was in Rochester in October for the forever EEG and just had my 4 hours of test this last Tuesday. I am set to have surgery in my Left Temporal Lobe at Mayo in Rochester with Dr. Meyer on Feb. 7th. I have complex partials in clusters, a lot of activity at night and so on. I'm a little anxious about this, but so ready to have a life a again.
I have no doubt that God has led me to this and I have faith to no end, but still just a tad bit anxious. I'm sure we all have the same feelings. Who was it that did your surgery? I hope everything is still going well!!
I think there is something in the psych evaluation that triggers them!! I had two.
Blessings
T Davis
Hi Sberra01-
Checking into how things have been since your surgery. We've connected one other time in a different chat. I was in Rochester in October for the forever EEG and just had my 4 hours of test this last Tuesday. I am set to have surgery in my Left Temporal Lobe at Mayo in Rochester with Dr. Meyer on Feb. 7th. I have complex partials in clusters, a lot of activity at night and so on. I'm a little anxious about this, but so ready to have a life a again.
I have no doubt that God has led me to this and I have faith to no end, but still just a tad bit anxious. I'm sure we all have the same feelings. Who was it that did your surgery? I hope everything is still going well!!
I think there is something in the psych evaluation that triggers them!! I had two.
Blessings
T Davis
Re: 22 year old nervous about brain surgery
Submitted by kat908 on Thu, 2011-11-17 - 14:20
Hi--I started having seizures when I was 5 months old and always in my sleep, I am now 53 yrs. old. Noone knew about them until I was married. It started with my husband hearing moaning and he would wake me up at 5-6AM. I would wake, respond and go back to sleep. One morning I wouldn't wake up and had a grand mal right in front of him, woke up in the ambulance. Went on meds that I would become immune to quickly and would have more seizures as time went on. Doctor told me I was a prime candidate for surgery. Went through all those tests as well and they located the area. Took tests a few more times to verify that that was the only area causing seizures. Finally decided to go in for surgery January 2003 and came out feeling like a while new person. Yes, I still take meds but at a much lower dose. So what I am saying to you is to keep persisting to locate the area(s) where it's happening and go for the surgery. You will be extremely happy you did. You brydy23 andDnasty both have my support 110%!!!!