My mother is a neuro nurse, which might explain my appreciation for the brain.
She worked at Johns Hopkins on their neuro floor when Dr. Ben Carson was there doing what the Universe clearly intended him to do… operate on brains (as opposed to the silliness going on now, which I refuse to acknowledge any further).
She would come home from work with tales involving things like the instruments used for brain operations (hint: power tools that look pretty much just like what you have sitting on your work bench in the garage) and Hemispherectomies (operations in which they literally split the left and right half of the brain apart often to treat severe epilepsy).
And I was ENTHRALLED.
The brain feels no pain
So I have long been aware that for many brain operations the patients are awake. The brain is such a complicated organ that it’s often necessary for the surgeon to check in with the patient to make sure he’s snipping the right parts and not doing any damage to vital areas.
And, as my mother always explained, the brain feels no pain, so it’s not nearly gruesome as it sounds to some people.
In this cool video a professional opera singer is having a brain tumor removed in an operation called a craniotomy (don’t worry…there’s no blood or guts are anything icky here) and the surgeon has him talk and sing during the surgery.
You can see his singing, speech, and even facial muscles are affected as the surgeon touches and works on certain areas of the brain.
PS – Shout out to the wonderful OR staff that understand how frightening this can be and know exactly what to do to comfort him. And the incredible surgeon.
