On Tuesday night we watched the first episode of Brain Hospital – a ‘fly on the wall’ documentary about The Walton Centre, which is the only NHS trust dedicated to neuroscience in the UK.
I wasn’t certain that B would want to see it but he said he was interested.
There was a woman named Joy featured on the show who was diagnosed with a malignant tumour in exactly the same location as B, the left frontal lobe. She underwent an awake craniotomy to remove the tumour, just like B! This was very exciting. We were able to relive B’s surgery, but this time in the comfort of our living room with tea and cake.
The operation was pretty much what we expected to see – the cutting and removal of part of the skull & brain covering, excision of the tumour etc. The part that was surprising was the electrical stimulus of the brain. As Joy’s tumour was very close to the area of the brain responsible for speech, the neurosurgeon asked her to recite the alphabet and stimulated parts of her brain at the same time. When she slurred her words that part was identified as playing a part in speech. B went through exactly the same thing, although he cannot remember it (much to my disappointment – after his surgery I demanded a full account of proceedings but none was forthcoming).
The shocking part was that it looked as if the doctors stuck a tiny post-it note on the areas of the brain to ‘keep’ then hacked away at the rest. I’m sure it was far more precise than it seemed but I’m still glad I didn’t see this before B went under the saw.
Another case featured on the show was a young woman with severe epilepsy who was having several seizures daily. Medication was no longer effective so she had electrodes implanted deep inside her brain to shock the area producing the abnormal activity. It will take 2 years to find out whether the treatment is successful. I don’t know how people manage to live with conditions like that. It makes us feel ‘lucky’ in comparison.
Boyfriend with a brain tumour 
Would love to have seen it. Dont get channel five in spain!
I am lucky as my surgeon Dr Brodbelt works there, they are amazing what they do and found it so amazing to watch. There is another one at a different hospital next week on BBC 2 will find out details.
I know it’s your hospital – I was looking out for you! The other show is on tomorrow night, Brain Doctors, 9pm on BBC2. I’ll be watching!
[…] never rains but it pours. Hot on the heels of Channel 5′s Brain Hospital comes Brain Doctors on BBC2. B and I have watched both this […]
My daughter died from a brain tumour in Feb 2014. She was diagnosed in June 2012 she underwent 2 operations in Beaumont Hospital and had 6 weeks radical radiotherapy, She was 29 years old and left 2 little boys. I,ve watched number 1 of Brain Hospital with the 26 year old girl called Joy and just was wondering how she is