By Ayleen Armendariz, PRC-Saltillo Blogger
In 2016, I had surgery on my brain, in hopes it would help me walk and talk. The surgery was called Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). The doctors predicted that I would either improve motor response by more than 20%, or not at all. After my surgery, the doctors switched on my DBS device and my body felt more relaxed than ever. All my body was loose; it was awesome. They turned the device down to begin incrementally increasing the stimulation over a period of time. Each time the doctors adjusted the level of impulse, my brain reacted differently. Sometimes I got very tired, sometimes I got emotional. After a while, the doctors weren’t seeing the response they expected. When they checked, the device was out of place by 2 mm. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but in the brain that is a huge amount of space. My device had drifted from where they placed it. The first surgery was unsuccessful.
The doctors suggest that I do the surgery again in 3-4 months. This will be the last time I will attempt this surgery. The doctors have made three cuts into my head and my chest already, and they will cut three more times. Right now, I am waiting for the doctor to call my sister. He will tell us when we can schedule the next surgery. It has been delayed now because of COVID-19. During my second surgery, they will remove my old device and replace it with a newer, better device. The technology has improved since my first surgery. I am ready for the second surgery, but I am okay waiting for now.
If the surgery is going to work, I am going do things all by myself. I am looking forward to going places by myself, like church, the mall, the movies, the pool, and going out with my friends! I won’t have to wait for anyone! I will show my dad’s family that I am still standing!
I’m going to wait until God says it’s my time to stand up and walk and talk. Then I am going to prove to people that God is real! Then I want to go to all places my God wants me to go. I think he wants me to talk about what happened to me in my life, including my past, having cerebral palsy, and my experiences with DBS surgeries.
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Communicators In Action - health, medical, dbs, deep brain stimulation, surgery, hope