con't from post on wednesday november 2,2011
i had tried to fax the report from 1996 but the ink was to light, so i brought it to my appointment with DR, ZAIDAT . i handed it to him to read before talking about the surgery. after reading it,he leaned back in his chair and asked: how are you feeling about your surgery right now? i said,pardon my language but, i;m feeling pretty fucked out of it. he replied: ya,you are!
he then typed on his computer,which had to large swivel monitors attached,containing my brain angiogram . he turned the first screen toward my son and i saying,this is the left side of your brain and this is where you had the stroke in your left pons. my son and i saw what we expected and reacted accordingly. then DR. ZAIDAT turned the other screen toward my son and i. BOTH of our chins dropped! DR. ZAIDAT very calmly said,with hesitation. you... basically have half a brain. at this point there was total silence as both my son and i sat staring in disbelief. a moment later i looked at my son and said "well that explains a lot".
DR.ZAIDAT then pointed out the external carotid artery with blood flow,then slight blood flow near the internal carotid artery. he then pointed to the top saying most of the blood flow i had on the right side had grown over from the left,it reminded me of a bad comb over with the difference being mine was internal. he proceeded to point out the large mid area without blood flow.
now,at this point he sat back in his chair, in his own disbelief and stated he could not believe i was able to walk into the room with the use of a walker or that i could not only talk but hold a conversation. he proceeded to say he had never seen anything like this before and "that my brain and body had compensated in unimaginable ways". he basically had the same stunned look on his face as my son and i did.
from there he informed us surgery would be far to risky as there was nothing viable left to sew together,it would be like trying to sew 2 hairs together and have blood flow through them without leaking. he suggested that if i showed any signs of stroke on the left side of my body that he could admit me and try hyperbaric chamber sessions of 45 minutes a day for 4 days to a week (i think). we scheduled my next appoint for 1 year later.
just a few months later i had symptoms on my left side of having a stroke.i was living in an assisted living center,told the CNA the instructions he had given me of laying in an anti gravity position for up to an hour if i could. but if things got worse to come straight to the hospital. about 15 minutes in the anti gravity position my left side started going numb,i called the CNA to my room told her of the numbness and said i needed to go to the hospital for possible stroke. i was not transported to the hospital for a total of 5 hours. .............to be continued...
Peggy, that's sad like hell and there's no point in fooling you by saying it's not. But your way of writing is extremely accurate, concise and drama-free so, have you ever thought of writing a book about your personal history? That's not just about earning money but it would also help people who still don't know much about Moyamoya. Hugs <3
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