Dr. Yaun performs about 6 of these surgeries a year. She said about 70% of patients have decreased seizure activity after the operation. Some even better. Dr. Yaun is going to perform a partial callosotomy. If a child is verbal they try to do this as there can be a mute period after surgery when doing a full callosotomy. Speech does eventually return. I would welcome some quiet! Ha! There is a damaged spot on Henna's callosum. The doctor thinks it was damaged from being shaken as a baby. She is using that spot as her stopping point for separation. It's about 2/3 down the callosum.
There are 3 major worries that the doctor said she has to consider during surgery.
1. There is a big vein that lies directly over the callosum. When removing the piece of skull sometimes it will bleed. They will have blood on hand in case Henna bleeds out.
2. There are 2 arteries that lie over the callosum so the doctor will have to navigate under them to reach the callosum.
3. Bruising of the brain and potential blood clots.
The surgery will take about 4 hours and then Henna will be in the ICU overnight. After she is stable she will move to another floor and be there 3-5 days. Knowing Henna it will be less! They will put her on morphine and she should be out of it and groggy for a while. Snoball will be with her and will comfort her.
I was sure Henna was going to get her head shaved, a possible reverse mohawk, but they don't do that anymore. Apparently having the hair on the head after surgery does not cause infection. The doctor will cut across the top of the head, ear to ear direction, and then pull the scalp back to cut a small piece of skull out. She will then work within that window to cut the callosum. She will use a very small, blunt spatula and cut through the tissue. She said when she sees the callosum it is the most beautiful white color. The tissue is very soft and has a texture somewhat like jello which make it easy to separate. By using a blunt object to cut through the callosum she doesn't nick a vein or other tissue. The callosum cannot regenerate so the hemispheres will not reattach.
This is all very fascinating! Henna may resume swimming 2 weeks after her surgery and will be ready for our vacation to Massanutten Resort at the end of August and school shortly thereafter.
Dr. Yaun has taken a head pediatric neurosurgeon position at the University of Oklahoma Hospital starting in Sept. We were very fortunate that she took Henna's case before leaving. She shared that there isn't a pediatric neurosurgeon in the whole state of OK. They have just gotten in a pediatric neurologist and other specialists to work with her. She is very excited about getting this program going! Kudos to Dr. Yaun!
Please stay tuned for future blogs on Henna's new dog and our trip to Ohio.
Jan
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