Anyone had brain surgery before?

Thanks everyone. It is a humbling experience to feel the pain and always being weak. I will certainly have a different outlook on life going forward. A hospital is a humbling place to be in, you think you are bad or in pain and then you see a little child going through the same thing. And somehow you feel lucky.
 
EMAM said:
@paul5186

I've just come across your thread now. I'm sorry for what you've been through but happy to see the op is over and you're doing so well. I wish I would have seen it earlier to give you encouragement and support.

I also had "near" brain surgery with Dr Melvil some 25 years ago. He's an amazing surgeon and you were in brilliant hands.

I say "near" as I had a benign tumor on my skull. A lump formed on my hairline on my forehead 5 weeks before I was due to get married. Dr Melvil checked it out, told me not to worry about it and decided to operate after my wedding. It was actually at its biggest on my wedding day, thank goodness my hair kinda covered it.

During my honeymoon, it vanished . I thought it was gone, but, alas, it was moving into my brain. They caught it just in time.

On the day of surgery, obviously, they had to shave my beautiful long locks in the area (my pride and joy)... I've never cried so much in my life. During surgery they removed a piece of my skull and were going to put in a metal plate to cover the hole but I was too infected. I came out looking like a monster. Swollen head, swollen eye and staples running from the top of my head, down the side. Dr Melvil told me I could come back in 6 months to have the plate inserted..... No thank you, I wasn't going through that again , so now I have a hole in my head..... It's my party trick... Lol... I get people to stick their finger in it but, thank goodness it's not always visible.

I'll try get a pic, but, in the meantime, I wish you a speedy recovery and just know that you're in the best hands.


/edit.... Took a pic
47e18e0e31cb95a1fe19dc0763c0cbb5.jpg
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Inquiring minds want to know... If you poke it hard enough do your toes twitch?
 
I'll know in January if I'm going under the knife for a tumour/unknown white spot deep in my brain. It has been dormant for the past 2 years but will see with the yearly MRI in January. And it is in the personality/balance part of the brain, so what little personality I had is gone.
 
paul5186 said:
Thanks everyone. It is a humbling experience to feel the pain and always being weak. I will certainly have a different outlook on life going forward. A hospital is a humbling place to be in, you think you are bad or in pain and then you see a little child going through the same thing. And somehow you feel lucky.
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Bes trong!

Yeah, hospitals are eye openers for sure. I used to go to government hospitals when I was in schit (no medical aid in SA ever) and my word... the schit that people go through. I respect the nursing staff. Every last one that I have met. Anyway, glad you are still alive and kicking. Do you still have a papsak attached to your noggin?
 
ghostim said:
I'll know in January if I'm going under the knife for a tumour/unknown white spot deep in my brain. It has been dormant for the past 2 years but will see with the yearly MRI in January. And it is in the personality/balance part of the brain, so what little personality I had is gone.
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Well let me know when, I can advise. Dr melvill is definitely someone you should see even if you are not in CPT. Years of experience which is what you want.
 
Datura said:
Bes trong!

Yeah, hospitals are eye openers for sure. I used to go to government hospitals when I was in schit (no medical aid in SA ever) and my word... the schit that people go through. I respect the nursing staff. Every last one that I have met. Anyway, glad you are still alive and kicking. Do you still have a papsak attached to your noggin?
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Sadly no, makes life easy, I could have eaten and pissed in bed. Doesn't get much better than that. In other news I popped for the first time in over a week even after 3 hospital grade laxatives. It only took 2 hours of my mom's stewed prunes for me to poop, so either it was the prunes or my mom's cooking.

On a serious note you get very constipated with a the meds, especially the ones with cooedine. And with a major head surgery the last thing you want to do is push haha

Sorry about the over share
 
xrapidx said:
Had encephalitis... Worst pain in the world... Was misdiagnosed as sinus problems. Only after a week did they get it right. The pain meds they gave me did sweet fokol.

Almost to the day, 10 years later - shingles zoster. Also worst pain in the world. Also misdiagnosed as pink eye. Wife took me to the emergency room when I started looking like the walking dead.

Left with some mild scarring, and sight never came 100% right. When I'm tired I can't read subtitles on TV..
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@xrapidx, a bit off the topic, but what did you take for pain for the shingles zoster. A good friend of my has it and is battling with it
 
Glad to read you doing well Paul.

I take it scrum practice this afternoon is out of the question?
 
CB40 said:
@xrapidx, a bit off the topic, but what did you take for pain for the shingles zoster. A good friend of my has it and is battling with it
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They caught it quiet late - gave me anti-inflammatories - eye drops - and some pain killer, unfortunately I can't recall what. It didn't help though.

I think the only thing that kept me going was the aircon in the bedroom and it lowests temperature - and trying to sleep through it.
 
xrapidx said:
Had encephalitis... Worst pain in the world... Was misdiagnosed as sinus problems. Only after a week did they get it right. The pain meds they gave me did sweet fokol.
Click to expand...
Exactly the same happened to me, I was sent for an MRI after arriving at the Casualty and the MRI revealed I had a deviated septum and that *MUST* be the cause of the worst headache I've ever had in my life, despite losing consciousness when I was given an injection (something which had never happened before). I got sent home a little later with Myprodol. Doctors in general practice (Casualty and GPs) can get is so wrong at times. A call to my GP the next morning was all it took to get me admitted and getting the correct care

@OP, Speedy recovery and take care, anything related to the brain is scary.
 
Well I got out the hospital on Friday, was in there for 11 nights.

Meds I am on is only really painkillers and vitamin B. Swelling is quite pronounced but is slowly coming down. Pain is ok, but difficult to sleep on one's back.

Just went to see the doctor the pathology came back. I have had to book a meeting with an oncologist who will advise on further treatment to remove anything left over that the surgeon could not remove. There were certain gene markers in the pathology whereby they do not want to play the sit and wait game as in 1-5 years it can change from a grade 2 to e.g a cancerous grade 5. The good news is that it was benign.

The bad news is that I will have to have radiotherapy or chemo or a combination of the two.
 
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