We have just seen both the neurologist and the neurosurgeon. The operation has gone beautifully. There have been no complications and everything went very smoothly.
The EEG electrodes were placed right on the brain to monitor Epileptic activity. As we knew from previous testing and previous surgery, there was seizure activity that was prevalent in the frontal area of the right brain. A surprise to the doctors, was that there was also a fair bit of activity that extended further back and above the first resection. This area does extend into the motor and sensory cortex.
With that in mind, they took the electrodes and did motor monitoring, which basically allows them to stimulate the brain and see what parts of the brain are responsible for the motor activities, such as hand movement etc. Because we had previously decided that if there was seizure activity in the motor cortex it would not be removed, Dr. Steinbok resected the area as far back as he could without inhibiting any motor function for Karter on his left side.
After the resection was finished, they did more EEG monitoring and there was still some activity extending behind the resection. The hope is that they have cut off the pathway and that his seizures will be contained and improved.
Karter has another 45 minutes until his surgery is complete at which time they will extabate him in the OR and send him to ICU. We should be able to see him about 7-7:30. He will remain in ICU overnight and go up to the ward tomorrow. They anticipate the swelling to be a bit worse this time since they had to come move forward than they did last time. Please pray that this will not bother Karter and that the swelling will not be as bad and will subside quickly.
I will post a bit more tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks for your support today!
No comments:
Post a Comment