Bridget's Surgery Updates: There's a new bear in town

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

There's a new bear in town

Hi all!

The day passed very quickly, and I did not have time for a post! But rest assured, Bridget's status has remained fairly stable, and her energy level has even gone up a little bit too.

I promise to write a longer post tomorrow. But for tonight, I leave you with a photo of a happy Bridget. A new bear arrived in the mail, from Brandon and Krista! Bridget loves it, and here is a photo of the evidence:

2 comments:

Alicia CravenJune 21, 2012 at 1:31 AM
Cute! What's its name?...
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BridgetJune 21, 2012 at 7:49 AM
Bridget says: "Therapy Bear"!
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What is a cavernous malformation, and why does it need to be removed?

A cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) is a vascular abnormality shaped like a raspberry, that sometimes can develop spontaneously in an otherwise healthy brain. Bridget has one in her brain stem, on the left side of her pons.

These CCMs will sometimes leak out blood, and when they do, they cause neurological problems, sort of like having a small stroke. Bridget's has bled twice now, and doctors suspect that it will continue to bleed. To try to prevent future neurological problems from developing, it makes sense for it to be surgically removed.

What will surgery and recovery be like?

Surgery will cause Bridget to have some neurological problems like facial numbness and vertigo. There is some chance that she will also have facial muscle weakness, double vision, weakness/numbness in one arm and leg, or hearing loss after surgery. Hopefully most or all of these problems will go away with time.

She will also have a lot of fatigue, and will have to heal from the incision and from the removal and replacement of a "bone flap" in her skull.

If everything goes well, she will be feeling good enough to be out and about after a month, and closer to normal after 3-6 months.