Monday, September 13, 2010

Cranio-what?

One of the specialists we saw last week was looking over the notes about my stroke and said, "I see you had a craniotomy."

Craniotomy?

I know that I had brain surgery, but I didn't realize that it's called a craniotomy. The image that comes to mind for me is a slightly unbalanced Victorian surgeon, indulging his curiosity by drilling holes willy-nilly in his patient's skull (apologies to the fabulous Dr. Tierney).

I'm sure this procedure has come a long way since the Victorian times, especially at MGH. Still, I'm glad that I wasn't awake during the operation.

4 comments:

  1. So do you have tiny screws or wires holding a piece of bone in place now?

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  2. I don't know. Neal assures me that there no metal inside me, and I don't really want to know much else.

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  3. lol, all that a craniotomy means is that your skull was opened up (to get to the brain) . . . it sounds like a big deal, and I suppose that it sort of is . . . but sort of necessary! :)

    Sorry, let me introduce myself . . . I'm Pamela and I had a stroke at 19. I actually blog about it at http://rehabrevolution.blogspot.com (you may find it familiar!). Don't worry, I'm looking into changing my blog's look :)

    Oh and, just btw, I have titanium plates and screws holding down the bone flap that closes my skull ;) It was pretty trippy to see evidence in an X-ray!!

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  4. Hi Pamela. I look forward to reading your blog.

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