So the neurology clinic called and confirmed that April 16th is the day for Karter's surgery. I asked a thousand more questions and got some great answers, they are so informative.
We will be going in for an MRI on Friday the 13th. They will then mark his head for surgery. We will then meet the surgeon to sign all the papers and have any questions answered that we will have at that time. We will also get a tour of the ICU and get an exact time for the surgery. Right now it is scheduled for first thing in the morning.
On the day of the surgery we will need to arrive at 6am. The surgery is a total of 5-6 hours long. It will be an hour of sedations, opening his skull, removing the bone (that will be replaced at the end of the surgery), doing EEG to locate the exact area for removal. Right now they are going on what is showing on MRI, they make sure with EEG that they get everything that is causing electrical charge in his brain. After about the first hour the actual sugeon comes in and his part is about 3 hours. He will remove the legion or abnormal brain tissue. (this is called a resection). They then do MRI and EEG to make sure they got everything. They will then replace the bone, and stich him up. He will then go to the ICU where they will take the tubes out and then we will be able to see him.
He will remain in ICU for the first 24 hours. He will not be able to have visitors at least for the first 24 hours. Once he is on the ward, it is up to us if he will be able to receive visitors or not.
Some new information we received today was that on the second and thrid day he will be very swollen. Possibly not able to open his eyes, this is common and is considered a symptom of the operation. It will subside within a day or two, but can be quite bothersome for Karter. After surgery he will be given morphine for the first day or so and then Tylenol with codine. Usually they go home within about 4-6 days and are usually just on regualr Tylenol by that point. Amazing that they bounce back so quickly after such an invasive procedure.
The risks...1-infection of the brain, i.e. a virus-this is treatable with anti-biotics. 2-stroke during surgery if a blood vessel would be damaged-however it is not quite as serious as if you or I had a stroke, infants pathways are not yet formed so usually they come out of it with few complication. 3-loss of blood volume during surgery-very unlikely but a possibility.
If we get any more information i will keep you updated.
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