Leah's Brain Surgery

Leah had her brain surgery October 22 at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Oregon. This surgery was to remove a portion of her brain (right hippocampus, amygdala, and surrounding area). This is the part of her brain which was severely damaged in her car accident 11 years ago. It was also the part that was responsible for her subsequent seizure disorder. The seizure disorder was getting worse and her doctors said if she continued to have uncontrolled seizures she would deteriorate to the point where her quality of life would be severely affected.

As scary as the thought of surgery was, Leah decided that she wanted to go through with it because she was so tired of having seizures. Her surgery lasted a little over five hours. The team of doctors said that they were able to remove almost all of the affected area. They said they were “very aggressive” and took out an area of the brain approximately the size of a small kiwi fruit. (They weren’t expecting to take out this much.) Since Leah has already been functioning almost exclusively with the left side of her brain, they were certain that there would be very minimal deficits. They did say that she might lose some peripheral vision in her left eye and might have trouble “finding her words” for a while.

It's been about two weeks since Leah's surgery and I am happy to report that she is doing just great. The home health care nurse said Leah's recovery is "a miracle" and we are totally thrilled to report that she is herself, knows who everyone is, and is oriented and cognizant of her surroundings. She's getting a lot of sleep these days but otherwise recovering well.

I’ll keep you posted on how she is doing. Thank you so much for all of your prayers, concerns and good thoughts. I know that she is very encouraged by them all. Leah has made many friends here at Grandma's Attic and enjoys talking to our mail order customers on the phone. Hopefully, she'll be back at work at the beginning of the year, only this time she'll be seizure free!