Hey, everyone,

Oh, gosh, where to start? I guess first I'd like to say it was great to meet Katie and Kim and Susan/Mt. Girl and Jillie (TNA-UK and Tracy's friend) and Irene (TNA-Aus who helped out someone I met in the chatroom - or was it on the forum - one night last winter) and to see Susan/Swanee again - we met at the last conference in Orlando - as well as others who have become old friends already. Kim and Katie did a great job presenting on stimulators and then I found an empty seat at their table for lunch so we got acquainted a little - as I ate up all the rejected chocolate!

It was a great conference again. Lots of good stuff. I guess the highlight was watching a LIVE MVD operation! Yes, LIVE! Kim Burchiel of OHSU (Oregon Health & Sciences Univ. in Portland), who was hosting the conference, did an MVD on Friday afternoon and they had a live feed to the conference, which was being held at the Doubletree in town (thank goodness the electronics all worked - another session wasn't so lucky). There was a camera in the overhead light in the OR as well as in the microscope and we got to see from the beginning to - I assume the end, as I left when they started to close to catch another session. It took about 45 minutes to do the craniotomy (open up the skull to where they could see between the parts of the brain down to the base of the nerve. They monitored the facial muscles and hearing to reduce the risk of hearing loss and/or facial paralysis, as those cranial nerves (VII and VIII) are closest to the Trigeminal Nerve (V) when you get in there. In fact, when you see them altogether in there, you wonder how they know which is which at all! You sure do want an experienced surgeon with a really good success rate.

He found a vein running across the base of the nerve and coagulated it - or "buzzed it" as the narrator kept saying. The vein was just as it appeared on the MRI, which they showed us on the screen as well. He looked around the nerve root but didn't find anything else (we could see other vessels, but the narrator explained that these were arteries that feed the nerve). This part only took about 10-15 minutes - the actual decompression part. I don't know how long it took to close - sorry. I should because I came back and Dr. Burchiel was answering questions, but I don't remember.

We heard that the patient was fine in recovery but never did hear whether the surgery was successful - i.e. whether her pain was reduced or gone when she woke up. I asked the next day but Dr. Burchiel was dashing back to the hospital to check on the patient - literally. He said he'd try to get word back, but I never heard anything. I hope no news was good news. I was hoping they'd post it on the TNA or OHSU website but I can't find anything. One person in the audience asked how the patient was doing and was she painfree not realizing it was live - she thought we were watching a recording.

I think I'll stop here for tonight. I started to write up the gory detail, but perhaps I'd better ask if you want that. I can post it in a reply with a suitable title so those who don't want to read that can skip it ... ? Or I can just leave it out.

More soon... [sorry - in transit and lots going on right now, but will be back with more as soon as I can]

Jean