Brain Surgery??

Joan - posted on 10/23/2012

hi

i had all of the testing done for it ,but was ruled out as a candidate. they will only do the surgery if all of your seizures start in one side of your brain.they won't do the surgery if that part of the brain controls any major functions.they have been doing the surgery for years now if i was a good candidate i would have had it done, but it turns out my seizures start in both sides of my brain.

good luck

Kimberly - posted on 04/15/2011

@Danielle, I had my surgery there in 2004. I had a brain tumor but surgery became a necessity and not an option after my son was born. I loved that hospital and just recently found out that my neurosurgeon died last month. Who did your surgery? Email me privately if you'd like to compare notes. kimberlyakuhn@gmail.com

Anna - posted on 03/04/2011

im also curious on what you have decided to do? or if you have made a decision yet?! it is a big one.

i had grand mal seasures daily since i was 8. we done all the tests that were available in new zealand (where i grew up), but they couldnt see where the seasures where coming from. at age 20 i was sent to australia to have a SPEC scan, where they saw that my seasures were base in my right frontal temporal lobe, though quite deep in the tissue. i was a candidate for surgery. the neurologist said i had a 50/50 chance of success (success meaning decrease in seasures or no seasures, failure meaning no change). i would still have to take my meds and they didnt think i would be able to drive a car either, as they didnt think they could eliminate my seasures. their hope was i would have 3 a year instead of three a day. there was also a 7% chance of a stroke causing left hand side paralization. i decided not to go through with it. i didnt want to take my meds anymore and i wanted to be able to drive and those things werent going to change. i have heard some great success stories though! it just wasnt right for me.

now living in holland and in feb. 2010 i started taking topiramate (on top of my other meds) and i have only had 3 grand mal seasures over the last year! and my new neaurologist said we can always look into doing more tests for surgery options if that is something i would like to do in the future. good luck with everything!

Meg - posted on 01/27/2011

Did you do it? And do you ever remember your seizures??
Surgery is a decision I'm dealing with right now.. I have complex partial and generalized seizures and I also go into status epileptis (where you just keep having one grand mal after another until meds are given.) Anyways when I was pregnant I was so healthy and didn't have any seizures really, maybe just a couple auras and that was it... Ever since I had my daughter, almost 15 months ago I have not been under control and I have very bad ones... It's been awful because I feel less of a mom when I'm need my husband or parents to take care of her while I'm having problems.. I'm on three medications for them plus lorazapam to stop a seizure... And it's still not working... My doctor talked to me a couple days ago about sending me to Dallas to do and EEG and some other tests to see if I am a candidate for surgery... Another option is a vagus nerve stimulator... But I am SO scared to do either... I don't know what to do... I have Lupus also, and I would love to get rid of the seizures instead of having two illnesses to have my family and myself deal with... But it is so scary, I'm afraid of something going wrong... I'm still thinking about it but I would also love to just be more normal, to have another child, to drive, go to the store by myself etc.. I'm praying on it..

Danielle - posted on 08/17/2010

This past March I had my surgery. I've been blessed that I haven't had one seizure since. I didn't have any of my brain cut out. They went in and sliced the area (scar tissue) to let the passing of the electric in the brain pass through instead of getting stopped and cause me my seizures. I still have the option of having the scar tissue taken out, but I have a higher chance of causing memory loss. I don't know what state you live in, but my surgery was done at University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. I know there have been several other patients that have come from other states for the surgery. The hospital is one of the best in the country, it is also part of Case Westren Reserve University and Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital (one part of the hospital). The Neurology department has been excellant since I've been there (2007). If you wanted to, look up the hopsital and I believe you could get more info of what you could go through

Joan - posted on 08/11/2010

i went thru the study to see if i was able to have the surgery. they found out that my seizures actually start in two areas of my brain not one. this ruled me out. i would have it done as long as i would not lose any major functions. that is one of the things they check for when they do the study.