Brain Surgery

May 19 01:57 UTC 2002

My wife Adrienne (some of you may remember her as Adrienne Miller, she hung
out with Brad Switzer and Tony Mason and that gang back in the 80s) is going
to have brain surgery on Thursday.

She was having some headaches last weekend and on Monday they were so severe
we took her to urgent care (basically, our family doctor, without an
appointment).  They gave her some meds and sent her over for a CT scan.  On
tuesday, she wasn't feeling better so we returned to the doctor.  No report
on the CT scan yet, but it really looks like a lengthy migraine, so here's
some really good meds (some nice barbituates).. 

Later on Tuesday morning, the family doctor called back.  The CT scan results
came back and there was a small cyst.  At that time they scheduled an MRI for
Thursday, and an appointment with a neurosurgeon for next Wednesday.

The severe headaches went away Tuesday night.  She was still left with some
headache but not much, and she stopped taking the pain meds Tuesday night.

The MRI on Thursday came and went without issues.

Friday morning, the family doctor called and told us the cyst was "quite a
bit larger" than they originally thought, and they were moving up our
appointment with the neurosurgeon to today (Friday, at the time), at 2:15pm.
Fine.  A little alarmed, but we're still okay.

We take Emily to her 4 month well baby appointment at 10:30, and then we head
up to Wake Med radiology to get our scans.  They aren't there for some reason
and won't be there until 12:30 so we head back home, figuring we'll pick them
up on the way to the neurosurgeon.

We get home and the phone rings.  It's the neurosurgeon's office.  "Did you
get our message?  We've been trying to get ahold of you!".  They instructed
us to go get her films (CT and MRI) and get to the hospital ASAP.  They
were going to admit her.  

Essentially, the cyst was fairly large and leaking fluid into her brain.  They
referred us to Dr. Allan Friedman at Duke Medical Center, as the original
neurosurgeon was not able to perform this kind of surgery.

Dr. Friedman is the Chief of Neurosurgery at Duke Medical Center, which has
the largest Brain Tumor Program in the country, currently treating over 1900
patients, and featured on 60 minutes last month.

So we got to the hospital about 1pm, and they admitted us and sent us up to
her room, where they began to prep her for surgery.  They took her vitals,
did a chest and head x-ray, etc..

Keep in mind that all this time (since Tuesday night) adrienne is feeling
quite fine, and today (Friday afternoon) feels as good as ever.

Finally, about 5pm, Dr. Friendman comes by after finishing with his surgery
for the day.  He looks over the scans and basically says "It's not an
emergency, go home."

They asked us to come back on Wednesday morning, and they are going to do a
surgery to remove the cyst on Thursday.  Basically, they will cut open her
head at the top, go down between the ventricles and remove the cyst.  There
are all of the typical risks associated with major surgery (blood clot,
infection, etc).  Additionally, the major risk of this particular surgery is
short term memory loss (about a 10% chance).

The surgery itself has been performed since 1921.  The cyst itself is a
congenital abnormality - ie, it formed during her development and she's had
it all her life.

Apparently, they ONLY remove these things if they become symptomatic, as
Adrienne's did.  Some people have these cysts and never get them removed.

Adrienne's cyst in particular was blocking the flow of spinal fluid and that's
what probably was causing the severe, debilitating headache.

Anyway.. we're home right now.. Adrienne feels fine, and lots of family are
coming in to see us for the surgery and after the surgery.  Her mother will
be staying for a few weeks probably to help out as Adrienne will likely be
out of commission for a while (and on short term disability).

I will post an update here probably after the surgery sometime to let you all
know that she's okay.

response 2 of 22:

May 19 02:08 UTC 2002

Good luck and best wishes, ric.  Routine or otherwise, thsi is still a
difficult time and a difficult situation, and I hope it goes well.

response 4 of 22:

May 19 05:26 UTC 2002

Wow.  Good luck.

response 6 of 22:

May 19 16:06 UTC 2002

Good luck and best wishes, Rick.  I'm glad it's not an emergency that 
had to be taken care of right away.  That at least sounds like a good 
sign.

response 8 of 22:

May 20 02:15 UTC 2002

someone can tell me where is here

response 10 of 22:

May 20 10:45 UTC 2002

I sincerely hope it goes smoothly.

response 12 of 22:

May 20 23:40 UTC 2002

Would it be helpful to talk to my neighbor who also had surgery for something
congenital?  He is fully recovered and feeling much better than before.

response 14 of 22:

May 21 12:33 UTC 2002

Thanks for your thoughts everyone!

response 16 of 22:

May 27 19:33 UTC 2002

Well, my wife's surgery went very well on Thursday morning, and they
discharged her on Saturday around lunchtime.  Amazing how quickly they get
you out of there.

She's spending lots of time in bed and on the couch now, and taking all kinds
of meds (some steroids to prevent swelling, some anti-seizure medication, and
Tylenol 3 w/codeine for paine.  

response 18 of 22:

May 27 21:32 UTC 2002

I'm glad to hear she's doing well!  :)

response 20 of 22:

May 28 04:15 UTC 2002

<laughs>  It took me a second to catch that...

response 22 of 22:

Jun 2 14:47 UTC 2002

I had to go back and read my response a couple of times first :)