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Surgery-Left temperal lobe

Thu, 09/25/2008 - 19:49

im 15 and im on trileptal, my seizures are well controled but i still have so many worries about my future. And i hate being medically dependent, it worries me too much. I have a scar in my left temperal lobe, so i was wondering if any one has had surgury done there and like how long the recovery time was, what are soem risks, how did it go, are you seizure free now, and just anything else you could share. It would really help, thank you.

Comments

Re: Surgery-Left temperal lobe

Submitted by Texas_med on Sun, 2008-10-05 - 22:54
Hey Chelsea93. My name is Shawn. I am a Professional Nurse in the neurology field as well as a person with epilepsy myself. I have had epilepsy for over 22 years now and just recently, September 23, 2008, was told where my seizures were originating. My seizures start in my left temporal lobe as well. The only difference with mine and yours is that your basis is scar tissue and my basis is a smaller hippocampus on my left temporal lobe. I can maybe be a big help since I work with people who have surgery on this area of the brain alot, as well the VERY LARGE amount of research  I have done and the neurologists and neurosurgeons I work with. I can tell you some of the risks are slurry speech, loss of short-termed-memory and a slight chance to lose long-termed memory. I am sure you know the basic risks as with other surgeries (infection, etc). I can say that with all the people we see go through the surgery, I have witnessed less than 1% of the patients having significant memory loss or long-termed effects (and most were elders).  Nearly all the patients go home within two days of the surgery. We at least keep them over night just to watch for inflammation and infection. I know nearly all the neurosurgeons and neurologists tell me that the prime age for the surgery is from the ages of 13 to 25. One thing we have found out though is that the longer you sit and tolerate the epilepsy, the higher chance there is to have more brain damage due to more seizures and more time your brain is oxygen deprived. Luckily I am finally geting the chance for surgery, and I hope the same comes for you.

Re: Surgery-Left temperal lobe

Submitted by gmc1004 on Sat, 2010-07-17 - 19:55

Hi,

    Since you are a nurse and work with neourologist and neurosurgeons maybe you can give me a little more info on the wada test.  I just scheduled mine for 7/28/10 and after reading about it I an freaking out and wonder if it is worth it to have the surgery.  My seizures have been uncontrolled for 34 years.  I want to have to have the surgery but am afraid it is not going to wotk even though my neurologist said for my type of epilepsy (left temporal lobe) it is a 75% success rate.  If I don't have it I don't know what else to do since I have been on every medication there is.  Thanks!

 

Hi,

    Since you are a nurse and work with neourologist and neurosurgeons maybe you can give me a little more info on the wada test.  I just scheduled mine for 7/28/10 and after reading about it I an freaking out and wonder if it is worth it to have the surgery.  My seizures have been uncontrolled for 34 years.  I want to have to have the surgery but am afraid it is not going to wotk even though my neurologist said for my type of epilepsy (left temporal lobe) it is a 75% success rate.  If I don't have it I don't know what else to do since I have been on every medication there is.  Thanks!

 

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