Pioneering Awake Brain Surgery

I recently was privileged to read an article penned by a writer given the opportunity to be at the forefront of brain research, awake brain surgery. Amazing things are being done and this article was both morbid and personal for me, I have color pictures taken during my surgery. They are amazing. I have actually seen images of my brain. Its a little surreal when you consider that the very thing interpreting the visual image, is the thing that the picture is taken of.

Prior to the surgery there is a meeting and discussion of why awake surgery is important.

"It was Marsh who kept the conversation going during the dinner. He explained the awake craniotomy procedure, saying that for a neurosurgeon, it is a constant temptation to try to remove the entire tumor, but if you go too far, if you remove too much, the consequences can be severe. It may lead to full or partial paralysis of one side of the body or other functional impairments or personality changes. When the patient is awake, this allows the surgeon first of all to determine where the dividing line lies, and second, to observe the consequences of the procedure directly and immediately, and stop before any serious damage is done."

After this the author is given time to think about what is going to happen before appearing at the hospital the next day.

"To my horror, the operation was in progress.

The silence was total. The single focus of attention was a head clamped in a vise in the middle of the room. The upper part of the skull had been removed, and the exposed edge covered in layer after layer of gauze, completely saturated with blood, forming a funnel down into the interior of the cranium. The brain was gently pulsating within. It resembled a small animal in a grotto. Or the meat of an open mussel. Two doctors were bending over the head, each of them moving long, narrow instruments back and forth inside the opening. One nurse was assisting them, another was standing a few yards away, watching. A whispery slurping sound issued from one of the instruments, like the sound produced by the tool a dentist uses to suck away saliva from a patient’s mouth. Next to us was a monitor showing an enlarged image of the brain. In the middle, a pit had been scooped out. In the center of the pit was a white substance, shaped like a cube. The white cube, which appeared to be made of firmer stuff, was rubbery and looked like octopus flesh. I realized that it must be the tumor."

Terrible Beauty of Brain Surgery

What an amazing article. I am in awe of the brain and its functions. I am grateful to have the providers and caretakers that I do. God bless and keep you.