Questions on brain surgery

[B_S_A]

Hello you looooovely people.

So I recently had what will hopefully be my last angiogram. They seem to get worse every time, but the guy doing it was in and out like lightening which I was chugged with.

It's to see if the gamma knife surgery had sealed off the rest of my AVM as there was only a tiny bit left after my first round of treatment 10 years ago.

If it isn't gone then they wont do that treatment again. Which is fine - I hate waiting 5 years at a time for something to happen as my AVM could explode at any time.

If it isn't completely gone, my surgeon said I could convince him to go in and cut it out. Which means this horrible nightmare might be wrapped up by the end of the year (except for that pesky brain damage).

My questions are - who here has had brain surgery before? What was the actual procedure like? What can I expect to happen? How long did it last? Thanks!

[RogerCMerriman]

Long time!

Not myself but two of my colleagues have had brain tumours removed, it’s a fairly major operation so took a while to recover, very tired etc.

[B_S_A in reply to RogerCMerriman]

Hey thank you! Do you know if that tired feeling ever lifted? Or did it just end after a few months?

[RogerCMerriman in reply to B_S_A]

As far as I’m aware they had full recovery, in terms of fatigue, though one has hearing loss and some vestibular damage.

I’m good to be honest, I’m attempting to do less just gone part time in efforts to well be good to myself!

[B_S_A in reply to RogerCMerriman]

How have you been??

[cat3]

Hi Ben. My understanding of AVM surgery is very basic. My procedure was far less invasive (endovascular coiling) and apparently took around 2-3 hours. I became compass mentis around the 2 month point and was walking again by 3.

But I want to say hello and wish you well. I hope the more invasive craniotomy procedure won't be necessary so you can escape a more complicated recovery process and walk away knowing the GK did the trick.

Whatever your surgeon decides, please let us know won't you ? You probably have already but, if not, maybe get all the info you need on AVM surgery from the Headway team....

My best as always, Cat x

[B_S_A in reply to cat3]

Hey Cat! Doing ok - want this thing out of my head now 😤 I'll let you know for sure!

[B_S_A in reply to cat3]

Are things ok with you too?

[cat3]

I'm ok thanks, apart from balance issues ......and impending dark winter nights ! 😧

Lovely sunny day here today though so making the best of it gardening..

I really hope the GK has finally set you free from uncertainty and worry .......and wait to hear. Everything crossed for you Ben...

🤞 xx