Ella had a stable night. It is a bit frightening to look at her because she looks like a wiring accident, connected to every possible machine and tube. Her blood chemistry is surprisingly stable considering the amount of blood and assorted liquids she received during surgery and after. Dr. Black came by late last night (what a day for him, how does he do it?). He had some very encouraging things to say: – Ella is exactly where he wants her to be right now. He sees no cause for thinking anything is wrong. – He removed only (ha, ONLY!) the right hemisphere, and managed to leave ALL the base structures intact. That is good news, and will effect Ella’s recuperation. – The excessive bleeding during surgery came from the Dura, not from the brain itself. The Dura is the (as far as I understand it) tissue between the brain and the bone. Ella had an unexpectedly elaborate vein network there. – The brain tissue removed was definitly very very abnormal. He cannot see that it contributed a single thing to her functioning.
Ella is kept sedated and will probably be left that way for today and maybe tomorrow. The swelling can introduce various problems and they want to be ready in case those arrive. We are told that the worst is yet to come as far as her post operative condition. Ella is expected to swell even more till about 48 hours after surgery. Then an improvement is expected. When the sedation goes down a bit (every few hours) Ella moves around a bit. She is moving both sides!! Dr. Black also noted that with enthousiasm. Whenever I talk to her through her sedation, the blood pressure monitor responds. This could be my imagination. It could be doing that when I am not around too. But I don’t think so… I want to see her eyes again and hear her try and take part in the conversation. It will probably be a while.
I am glad you can only have one hemispherectomy. None of us could survive another.