Neurosurgeon appointment

On Tuesday November 12th, Big Mama had an MRI and an appointment with Dr. Kirsht, the neurosurgeon who performed her surgery. He said that she was improving greatly. He also said that now that the swelling has subsided and the free fluid has reabsorbed and he is able to get a better look at her brain with the MRI, he does not believe the bleed was caused by a tumor as he initially assumed. (Yes I know that is a really bad run-on sentence but that is why I am in the medical field and not education!! lol) Dr. Kirsht now believes that Big Mama's bleed may have been due to a malformation of a vein which caused the vein to rupture and bleed. He wants to perform a angiogram in a few weeks. This procedure uses a contrasting dye to better see the veins and arteries. He will be able to look and see if there are any more malformations and also get a better look at the veins/arteries surrounding the area of the initial bleed. They will insert a catheter into a artery in the upper leg and thread it up into the neck/brain area then release the dye. After the procedure you have to lay completely flat and keep your leg still and flat for 2-6 hours. Even though there are risks with every procedure, this one is normally fairly painless, easy and is an outpatient procedure. The problem is that Big Mama still does not have complete control over her right leg. It is kinda like it has a mind of its own and is constantly in motion. The only way they are going to be able to perform this procedure on Big Mama is to sedate her and keep her sedated until the lying still period is over. So we are not sure quite yet what they are planning on doing as far as the angiogram is concerned. Dr. Kirsht did ask Big Mama what grade she taught. She replied "6th, 7th & 8th grade special education". Dr. Kirsht said that right there was enough to give someone a brain bleed!!