 |  |
Call Me Patient
On Friday, August 13th 2004, a surgical team from the University of Colorado Medical Center Department of Neurology removed a golf ball size portion of my brain. First, a drilled hole was made with an electric saw in a circular shape slicing through the skull bone. This completed bone mass was removed. The skin area surrounding the hole wasn't touched except to temporarily tack under and along the sides of the perimeter. Towards surgical completion the hole was re-sealed using the original bone. The saved skin was unwound, stapled, and sown to the adjacent, surrounding skin. Removing a portion of the skull allowed neurological surgeons access to my open brain. An electric knife with a specialized point was able to precisely remove the damaged tissue in my frontal brain.
Determing if this was the medically correct action for my psychology, physiology, and disease, my doctor scheduled immediate multiple tests. During one month I met with 4 doctors and 8 nurses. One test required a hospital stay, I was observed intimately for 4 days and 3 nights. A prior test involved an angiogram which delivered sodium pentothal stitched through my thigh, woven straight through my heart, deposited into my brain to discover if my speech center would be affected by the removal of my right Hippocampus. The psychological tests determined what my I.Q. was before the test, whether I had the fortitude to endure the healing process, if I harbored a death wish, and how many years of accredited education had I taken and what was my G.P.A.
What experiences led to this decision? Was I convinced the surgery would turn out successively? Was there a measure I could rely upon without doubt? To maintain my course without substantial change would have been an uncontrollable spiral into certain death. At this point, I saw 2 vehicles. Trust my doctor's road map or skip to the "end" and say conscious good-byes.
Initially my reaction was sarcasm, fear and disbelief. Do I actually want to hire and pay someone to drill, remove and then replace a portion of my skull; peal back the skin around the missing piece; and extract the liquefied tissue? This is ludicrous. The doctors actually presented odds of surviving with an intact mental, emotional and physically functioning body. The entirety of touching and altering a human brain has side effects exceeding all other organ's alterations. Their blase attitude was supposed to place me into a zone of placation. Blase attitudes have the reverse effect upon me. The process called a hippotempectomy or a temporal lobectomy isn't common. What has been common and has a cultural, historical understanding is the process of lobotomy. Culturally, a lobotomy has been portrayed on the silver screen in a black and white movie. An actor of reknown was cast in the role of the soon-to-be-created "monster-man". Co-starring were the dedicated, deranged doctor and his trusting, pure-as-snow nurse. Rounding out the ensemble were nondescript angry mobs equipped with pitchforks, chairs, and sawed-off shot guns. Peaking from sensory cinematic climax is the scene hours prior occurring in the electrified labratory -- picture the bandages being removed..."It's my GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT yet. I am Herr Frankenstein!!!"
What experiences led to this decision? Was I convinced the surgery would turn out successively? Was there a measure I could rely upon without doubt? To maintain my course without substantial change would have been an uncontrollable spiral into certain death. At this point, I saw 2 vehicles. Trust my doctor's road map or skip to the "end" and say conscious good-byes.
Initially my reaction was sarcasm, fear and disbelief. Do I actually want to hire and pay someone to drill, remove and then replace a portion of my skull; peal back the skin around the missing piece; and extract the liquefied tissue? This is ludicrous. The doctors actually presented odds of surviving with an intact mental, emotional and physically functioning body. The entirety of touching and altering a human brain has side effects exceeding all other organ's alterations. Their blase attitude was supposed to place me into a zone of placation. Blase attitudes have the reverse effect upon me. The process called a hippotempectomy or a temporal lobectomy isn't common. What has been common and has a cultural, historical understanding is the process of lobotomy. Culturally, a lobotomy has been portrayed on the silver screen in a black and white movie. An actor of reknown was cast in the role of the soon-to-be-created "monster-man". Co-starring were the dedicated, deranged doctor and his trusting, pure-as-snow nurse. Rounding out the ensemble were nondescript angry mobs equipped with pitchforks, chairs, and sawed-off shot guns. Peaking from sensory cinematic climax is the scene hours prior occurring in the electrified labratory -- picture the bandages being removed..."It's my GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT yet. I am Herr Frankenstein!!!"