Today I completed my second day of screening and baseline testing for the Magnetic Resonance-guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery (MRgFUS) that I am scheduled to have on Monday (November 19). The title of the clinical trial in which I am taking part is "Phase I trial of MR-guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) bilateral capsulotomy for the treatment of refractory Major Depression." It's getting close now and I am starting to get nervous about having brain surgery. I wonder how I got to this point that having them ablate a portion of my brain seems like the best path forward.
I received my scores on the psychiatric scales that we did last week. There were three tests that I did that measure level of depression. The first one was the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). I received a score of 25 on this test. Scores of greater than or equal to 23 indicate a very severe depression. The second test that I did was the Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). I received a score of 36 on this test. Scores of greater than 34 indicate severe depression. Finally I did the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). I received a score of 36 on this test. Scores of greater than or equal to 29 indicate severe depression. Thus, it is clear that I have severe depression and need to do something about it.
Today we started out with a pre-operation appointment. I started out meeting with a nurse who took my blood pressure, asked me some background history questions and did an ECG. Then I met with a pharmacist who reviewed all of my medications and made sure that I didn't have to make any medication changes before the surgery. Finally, I met with an anesthesiologist, who made sure that I was okay to deal with the sedation that they will give me for the surgery. The instruction that I was given that this process could take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours, however I was done in 30 minutes, which was much appreciated.
Then I did some neuropsychological testing. That was pretty challenging. Some of it was easy, like I had to sort different cards into as many different categories as I could in a certain amount of time. Other parts of it were more difficult, like having to remember a page of shapes that I was shown and reproduce (draw) all of the shapes, and having to remember a list of words that was read out to me. Finally, I had to play this strange betting game on the computer where I was given four stacks of cards and had to choose cards from different stacks. I either won or lost money based upon the card that appeared and the stack that it was chosen from. I was supposed to come up with an optimal strategy, but as far as I could tell, I was winning and losing at random, so I don't think I did very well on that part.
Finally I had a PET scan. They told me that it would take 90 minutes, but it ended up taking three hours, which I didn't appreciate. In order to prepare for this scan, I had to eat a low carbohydrate, high protein diet for the 24 hours before and not eat anything for 6 hours before. I did not like this diet/fasting routine. When I got there they put in a saline solution IV and I had to wait for two hours. Then, they injected me with a tracer and I then had to wait another 30 minutes. Finally, we did the PET scan and that took about 30 minutes and was not unlike a CT scan or MRI scan.
So, now I am just about ready for my surgery. I just have to shave my head on Sunday and go to the hospital early on Monday morning. I hope that it all goes well.
No comments:
Post a Comment