Newbie who's about to undergo surgery

[Tate]

hello everyone,

My name is tate I am 29 years old and have had Epilepsy since I was 15, my seizures have worsened over the past 3 years in particular...
I have tried a massive amount of medications in various combinations with nothing being able to control my seizures...

I am currently on Lamical 300mg b/d and also
kepra 1000mg morn and 1500mg nightly

i am undergoing a 2 stage surgery on the 12th November where they will be placing electrobes on the surface of my brain and a week later i will be returing to therata for another operation where they will remove the electrobes and the area of my brain that needs to be removed....

It is so good and so helpfull that people like all of you and creaters of these sites exsist...

I will post again with news of my surgery and recovery
I wish everyone best wishes and great health

Thankyou everyone in advanced

take care

tate

[Bernard]

Hi Tate, welcome to the forum.

There are several members here who have also had brain surgery. You are not alone. Best wishes on you procedure.

[Zoe]

Hi Tate,
I had brain surgery too. Welcome to the group. I hope everything goes well for you and please post when you feel like it and let us know how you are doing.

[speber]

Good luck with the impending surgery. It's nice to meet you... let us all know how it goes!

[Nancy]

Preparing for my surgeries did not involve what you're facing ... the other, easy tests gave the surgeons all the information needed.

I had the "simple, ordinary" surgery, Feb. 2006, to remove a small tumor deep in my left temporal lobe. It was repeated and the left hippocampus was removed May, 2007. I haven't had a seizure since then.

I'll be hoping and praying for you. Very best wishes !! I can't wait to hear from you.

[RobinN]

Good luck with your surgery. You are very brave, I am sure it wasn't an easy decision to make.

[Tate]

Hello Everyone
Thankyou everyone for your replies and your well wishes it is greatly appreciated..

I wish all the best of health and a seizure free future!!!

I will post when I get home and let evryone know how I am travelling!!!

Thankyou for your insight and sharing your experiences with me.

people like you and creators of sites like these are more then invaluable!!

Take Care
Tate

[Birdbomb]

Welcome Tate,

I have no experiance with brain surgery but have had 15 others that include knee replacements, tendon repairs and VNS implant (of which will be soon EXPLANTED)

I hope your surgery goes uneventfull and at the same time, successful. It's a very brave thing to do. There are several members who have had brain surgery for Epilepsy and I sure they will seek you out too.

Good luck!

[Nancy]

Tate!! I LOVE your cat avatar. How fortunate you are that you'll have a cat waiting for you to get home from the hospital.
My cat was FURIOUS that I'd been gone. She leaped into bed with me but kept her back turned and would not let me touch her for a full day - lol lol lol.
CATS !!!!

My husband was furious that I'd been gone. He hates changing the litter box.

[Tate]

Hi Nancy,

Funny you mntion the cats!! lol lol
My cat is a little confused poor boy.... i think he is under the impression he is 1/2 human 1/2 dog and i dont think he has quiet worked out that infact he happends to be a cat....

But who can blame him he is a mancoon... i think you may call them barn cat.... he is 8kg i think we times that by 2.2 to get the pounds so would be bout 17.5 pds...

He freaks out alot he always knows when I am going away to hospital he will not get out of my suitcase..... and follows me I am always tripping over him for the couple of days b4 i go to hosp.

He was bought for me wen i was living a long way from friends and family support when i was very ill last year as a pets as therapy animal...

And i do have to say people it does work...

When i come home he will lay on the bed with me or on the chair besides me and will only get up if i do....

He has also let my dad know once that I was having a seizure by going up to my dad and meowing then running into my room and dad took the hint on the 2nd go....

So he pretty dam special to me...


hahaha the kitty litter well since his warning to my seizure happened everyone treats him like a king and willl do anything for him... and i tell you he doesnt mind it one little bit

[Birdbomb]

That is a big cat! And sounds pretty damn smart. All my cat does is come when you call him, eats butterscotch candies and tolerates the puppy climbing all over him. Most animanls, when they eat something that makes them sick, will refuse to eat that food again. Not my cat, everytime he eat's the dog's food, he gets sick and it's so foul smelling! But he LIKES the dog food. We have to keep it covered to keep him out of it.
One thing he does do that gets our attention. If a guest comes in the house, he will hide, except if the individual is evil. (my daugher's ex-husband turned out to be all KINDS of bad, told him if I ever saw him near my house......)That scardy cat sat in his lap like he was glued there! This was so strange and out of character. Now she knows to have the cat check her boyfriends!

[brain]

Tate!

on Cats! I swore I heard a can of 9-Lives
or Meow-Mix box being opened and rattling over
here!



Kidding! I have 2 Brindles. One we adopted,
who is elderly - Cocoa Puff; and one that adopted
us who looks very much like Cocoa that people
believe that she's her Grandma but they're not
related at all - and her name's Deuce of Diamonds
because of 2 Diamonds on her head, but we call
her Diamond.

(((((((( Good Luck ))))))))))) with your surgery!
I've had surgeries but yet to have a brain surgery.
Take it easy and rest! And keep us posted! When
is the surgery scheduled? So those of us in
here may keep you in thoughts and prayers.

[Tate]

Hi Brian....

I am going all the way to Sydney to have it, I live in Australia, I have to drive bout 11 hours to get to hospital... grr hehe

I am having a day in hospital on the 8th Nov for mapping and other tests.. but they said i could come out hopefully

I have my first op on the 12th Nov ...getting a bit close now....
They will be placing electrobes on the surface of the brain...

Then for a week I am back to video monitoring ward so they can gather alll info they need..(hopefull not as full onas the last 2 times)... cant have any swelling with the electrobes on...

Then on the 19th they will remove the electrobes and a piece from my right temple lobe... as it is quiet a large area is to why they are using the 2 stage op... they are using the electrobes so they dont have to take more then they need but are at the same time wanting to make sure they get it all. I should be in hospital for approx 4 weeks am expected to get out last week of nov for good behavior or 1st week dec...

I am luckier then some all my cruical motor skills such as memory language sight are all on the left...

I am left handed so they thought it would all be on the right... but it seems its not and I am right dominated with functions for certain skills on both sides as a mirror image...

I have been taught to write with my right hand in a month.... it isnt as neat as my left but if i practiced more then i have it would be equal to in no time they have said..

thankyou for everybodys well wishes and prayers,.... i so greatly appreciate it.. And I certainly send my heart felt wishes to you all too...

I am so over whemed by everyone who comes here ability to place their own problems aside if only for a minute to help comfoart someone else even if only to share... it is really such a beustiful wonderfull thing

Cheers to you all!!

And remember a problem shared is a promblem halved!!

Thankyou to you all
And thankyou in advance to those who will share or even read in the furture!!

Take Care
Stay posotiveand happy enjoy whats here to be enjoyed, its so much more effort to keep a frown and to be cranky then it is to smile and be happy!!

[Zoe]

You take care Tate, and keep us posted on how things are going. Hey, if you can, take a few pictures of you drive and post them to us too! We'll be thinking of you.

[Nancy]

It's SO good to talk to you, Tate ....Please know that I'll be thinking about you and praying for you that entire week in Nov. I've see almost all of that procedure on PBS TV.

Here's my cat -- who will turn 20 years old on the 14th of November ! She came to live with us on Dec. 26, 1987.

I'm totally right handed and all my surgery was in the left side of my brain. Everything is OK except my memory. My speech can cause hysterically funny and causes embarrasing problems but that's supposed to ease off soon. Yeah, sure, you betcha. I have no hopes for my memory.

First surgery ( deep into left temporal lobe) was done on a Tuesday morning and I was sent home Thursday morning !
Second surgery (to remove more tissue and left hippocampus) done On Thursday and I went home on Monday.

[execwife2002]

Hi Tate,
Lots of luck with your surgery. My son is heading to Ohio in Dec. with my husband to have a load of tests run once again. We hope that this time the tests will show success with locating the focal point of his seizures. He's 19 yrs. old and has had mostly nocturnal seizures since age 12 1/2.
Can't wait to hear about your successful surgery. This must be a very exciting time for you. I hope that we get that chance one day as well.
Marian

[Tate]

Hi Execwife....
Where there is a will there is a way.....

I have had E sinceI was 15 and I am now 29....
Since that time i have had various measures and treatments to no avail....

I have now been going through testing for surgery for some time from my first appt till now looking into sugery it will have almost taken 2 years....

I have done all the scans i think are possible..
I have done 2x one wek stay in the video eeg monitoring units at hospital as well as other testing..

The first video monitoring was un able to say for certainty thats y i had to do it again.... they are hard weeks and when i was told it didnt give them clear enough information I was disheartent that i wouldnt be able to try the surgery avenue...
But after the 2nd go here i am

I do though have to do the 2 step one and ungergo the week long stay in the monitoring unit yet again which i wasnt to excited about....

Dont give up hope.... I didnt think i would be going to be able to yet here I am...

keep walking the pavement untill the path ends .... once it ends make some more cement and lay you own path....

Positve thoughts....

I wish your Son all the best and will be preying that he gets a answer he will be waiting for...

thankyou

I will deffinatly post once i return home I am leaving here fri/sat to take the adventure... oh yay..

I am hoping to make a journal i am having photos taken of my journey and I am asking if i can have the surgery videod( i know some find that weird) but I am wanting to know

So once i come home if i dont get to video it i will share my photos and my journey

thankyou againfor all your support and well wishes. It does mean a lot to know there are such special people out there like you all are... Thanx

All take care and best of health for the future ahead

[Birdbomb]

Sounds like all your "i"'s are dotted and your "t"'s are crossed. Good luck to you, may you have an uneventful but successful surgery.

[BIGMAN131307]

Tate, It seems like we both come from "similar" backgrounds. We both started having them early/mid-teens. Are ages are similar now 28/29. Unlike you I don't need the phase II testing (yet). I've also been on the same meds as you at one time. Neither help me. I hope everything goes well for you.

Please keep us informed about your progress.

[Tate]

Hi Bigman,

Do you mind if i ask how you developed E? have they given you any indication to what was cause?

They used to say head injury 6 months prior.... now they are saying it could be from birth and the head injury may have only been the trigger.

And you mentioned the phase 2 surgery.... Are you going through testing now to see if your a candidate for a surgical proceedure?

Oh and can i ask wat meds you are currently wif and what your dose is ... if thast all ok

They did say that I could have had the one step done where the electrobes would only be placed on for approx 10- 20 mins and then be removed and the section removed in the one step.. My specialits together asked if i would go the 2 step option as my % of sucess would be far greater as one part isnt highly defined... and if it wasnt a sucess i would have to do it anyways.... I like the option of the higher chance of recovery!!!

I will deffinatly keep in touch and let every body on here know how I am travelling.... I think you are all so great....

I proberly wont be back around a puter til first wk of dec as I have to stay in hosp bout 10 days after 2nd step so that last wk nov.... then we got a long way to get back home so prob have a few days stop over somewhere ( I HOPE) ..hehehe... maybe somewhere excotic...lol i doubt it hehehehe

I am leaving here sat morning ealry .... oh dam its wed night...... i dont know the time difference is where most of you live i am in nsw Australia... as i am writing this its 8:25 pm wed night halloween hehehe we dont really have it here some kids do it but its not very big here...

Ok rambling i hope to come on and say bye to every one......

All please take the best of care the best of health and a seizure free time ahead!!!!!

Thankyou to everyone you are all uniquely amazing!!!!

mwaahhhsss
tate