Left Temporal Surgery

Hi there, Sorry to hear how horrible and scary things have gone for your wife (and family, of course)! I hope that things improve soon. I can tell you my experience, but I live in MN (USA). My neuro recommended that I see an epileptologist ASAP, because he wasn't able to control my seizures through med changes and/or increased meds. We happened to move to MN last fall season, so I contacted Mayo Clinic's epileptology center. Unlike other centers I'd phoned (both in CA), Mayo didn't ask for a referral. I was able to get in to see the epi within a month of moving here. The epi tried weaning me off my med while switching me onto another 3 times. It didn't work. So, the epi put me back up to normal on my phenobarb and worked towards seeing if I were a decent candidate for surgery. I was on my phenobarb throughout tests, except the VEEG,and docs decided to do a craniotomy. The night before I went into the hospital for the craniotomy (and possible temporal lobectomy), I didn't take my meds. It had taken 5 days for me to start having sz's after stopping meds for my VEEG, so we expected it to take a couple of days for sz's to kick in after the craniotomy. About 18 hours after my craniotomy, my sz's hit. I had 3 within a few hours, and I was hooked up to very strong and sensitive machinary that caught all info needed. Doctors then decided that I was a very good surgery candidate, and immediately started me back on phenobarb to stop the sz's. I was told that the abnormal brain activity was coming from the same exact spot and doctors were extremely confident in removing the area without much of an impact on brain function. I agreed to go ahead with the partial temporal lobectomy, although I was pretty scared! Although my sz's were controlled for several hours, they kicked back in the morning of my surgery. I was scheduled to be the second surgery done, but I woke around 4 am with sz's. My seizures intensified and lengthened as time passed that morning. By the time my hubby got there to hold my hand, I was only having a minute or two between long sz's. The last 2 normal sz's I had were 30 minutes and then more than 45 minutes. VERY unusual in that it was a LONG time. Apparently, they gave me a shot of something after the 45 minute sz (which I don't recall) to gain control and stop my sz's. I still had sz's for several minutes, but not my usual type, until the med kicked in and I passed out. I hope that I haven't bored the heck out of you by my long story! I hope that things improve very soon. Things must be so hard for all of you, I can definitely relate to the pain and frustration! Take care... Heather

"I'm from Canada and Lawyers wont even look at the case because the medical profession will spent 50,000 dollars to defend a 5,000 doller calim. It's difficult to beat them, even if you have a 100% legimate claim, like if they leave the scaple in you after surgery...." I'm also from Canada, married to a law grad from Dal. I've read enough law books to know your sentence above is a crock. Each physician has 'individual' insurance. They are mandated to be insured because, if they get sued, they are covered.