MINDING
AIDEN
4-year-old Azusa boy in recovery after radical brain
surgery
Article Launched: 09/25/2008
01:19:05 PM PDT
4-year-old Aiden Waters of Azusa waits for his sensory
therapy session to start on Sept. 16. Aiden underwent radical surgery
in late August to treat a rare neurological disorder
called Sturge-Weber Syndrome. (Watchara Phomicinda / Staff)
One month after Aiden Waters
underwent radical surgery to remove the damaged right hemisphere of his brain,
the 4-year-old Azusa boy is already back in the routine of school and
undergoing neurocognitive therapy.
"He, for the most part, came
out the same boy that went into surgery," said his mother Rachel Waters.
"We are so blessed."
Aiden underwent the hemispherectomy
to put an end to seizures caused by a rare neurological disorder called
Sturge-Weber Syndrome. Prior to his Aug. 21 brain surgery, he had already
undergone an operation for glaucoma and 15 laser treatments to fade a deep
purple port-wine stain that covered parts of his face.
Facial port-wine stains and glaucoma
are common characteristics among individuals with the disorder, according to
the Sturge-Weber Foundation. The stain is caused by an overabundance of blood
vessels around the trigeminal nerve in the face, and abnormal blood vessels
also form on the surface of the brain on the same side.
"Progressively, those blood
vessels change and calcify," said Dr. Raman Sankar, head of pediatric
neurology at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA, where Aiden's surgery took place.
"That whole side of the brain ends up shuttering up."
The disconnection and removal of the
damaged hemisphere will allow the left side of Aiden's brain to function
better, he said, and should significantly reduce or eliminate the occurrence of
seizures.
And although doctors said it's still
very early in the recovery process, Waters said Aiden has not had any seizures
in the weeks following his surgery.
"The electrical activity
produced by seizures is like disruptive noise," Sankar said. "The
good half of your brain is trying to listen to Bach or Mozart or Bob Dylan, but
the other side is giving you a loud hum or noise."
Now that Aiden is hopefully free
from seizures, doctors and therapists have begun to work on developing his
neurological processes.
In his classroom at the East San
Gabriel Valley School in Covina, teachers engage him in sensory, physical and
occupational therapy. Colorful toys that record and repeat his teacher's voice
saying "Aiden" help him learn to recognize and respond to his name.
He also practices bearing down on his left hand to keep the muscles from
atrophying.
With the surgery over, Waters said
she feels a great sense of relief, but it's also the beginning of many new
questions.
"What does the future hold now
that he only has half a brain?" Waters said.
Doctors prepared her to expect some
behavioral and personality changes in Aiden following the surgery, and she
monitors him closely.
Where he once loved to be tickled,
Aiden now dislikes the sensation and can become agitated by it, Waters said. At
school, his teachers have noticed that some of his favorite activities now
upset him, like finger painting with shaving cream.
But doctors said it's far too early
in the recovery to tell if any of these changes will be lasting.
"We expect it to get better
over time," said Dr. Gary W. Mathern, director of the pediatric epilepsy
surgery program and pediatric neurosurgery program at Mattel Children's
Hospital UCLA, who performed Aiden's hemispherectomy. "If he's not quite
as interactive as he was pre-surgery, we do expect to see that at least come
back to a sort of baseline."
In fact, the doctors at UCLA won't
make their first major assessment of Aiden's recovery and brain function until
six months after the surgery, Mathern said.
"We're still very much in the
recovery phase," he said.
Waters said that while Aiden does
occasionally seem more frustrated than before, he also appears to be more aware
of his surroundings. As his brain starts
to form new connections that weren't there before, she hopes that Aiden may one day be able to
communicate through speech, something he
has been unable to do so far.
Overall, Waters said the recovery
process is going smoother than she expected.
Aiden Waters, 4, of Azusa goes through a sensory
therapy session at the East San Gabriel Valley School in Covina on Sept.
16. Aiden underwent radical brain surgery in late August to treat a rare
neurological disorder called Sturge-Weber Syndrome. (Watchara Phomicinda /
Staff)
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