INTRACRANIAL MONITORING W/GRIDS?

Re: INTRACRANIAL MONITORING W/GRIDS?

Submitted by mommy2kyra on Sat, 2007-03-03 - 18:17

Hi gregg, Yes, I had both grid and depth electrodes placed. I woke in recovery and immediately placed my hand to my head (covered with a large turban-like bandage) in extreme pain. Then, a wave of nausea hit. I got sick, which intensified the head pain. I had been warned of major headpain, prior to the surgery, but nothing could prepare me for that intensity. Thank goodness, they have lots of meds in the hospital, which relieve the pain for a while. I got lucky, and had my seizures rather quickly. My complex partials hit at 4 am the day after the electrodes were placed. I had 3 complex partials, showing the same focal point. The surgeon decided that I was an excellent candidate for removal, and that focal point removal would be done the next day. I was put back on phenobarbital and things were fine for the rest of the day. I woke to simple partials very early the next morning (around 4 again). They came fast and hard. By 7 am, they had turned into complex partials and I was status epilepticus. 20 minute and 30+ minute complex partials...with only a minute between. I, of course, have no memory of the cp's. What I do remember is the auras hitting very hard one after another. I was absolutely exhausted! The next thing I remember is waking hours after the surgery. So, I made it! It has been almost one year since my surgery..3/22, and I've been amazingly seizure-free since July. I did have 4 auras up til then, but that's it. Certainly a major improvement! I am still on phenobarbital, and look forward to finally being able to switch. Major toughies that I can think of were: 1.) Intense headaches- nothing relieved that intense pain for me (33% have that trouble) 2.) Lazy left eye- took 3 months to build strength again. This caused a lot of emotional trouble for me, as I was embarrassed by niece & nephew comments. 3.) Weight loss- I lost a heck of a lot of weight, because I couldn't hold anything down...maybe due to pain relief nausea??..it took major committment and time for me to look normal to myself. 4.) Emotional rollercoaster- in the beginning, the roller coster was very intense. Up and down (thankfully, I had ups :) within minutes. After a few weeks, I became very down and battled depression. I kept busy, worked out, saw a therapist, and it wasn't enough. I had to add anti-depressants, and continue with the rest to make the depression slowly ease. 5.) Word-finding difficulty- recall is very challenging. That causes a lot of frustration within myself (which contributes to my depression). I don't know if any or all of these troubles will be experienced by you, especially since you're having a different area worked on. But, this is my experience. If you have any specific q's about Mayo in MN, let me know. That's where I've gone. Best of luck to you, I hope that everything goes well! Heather *refractory seizure surgery on left temporal lobe 03/06*