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Welcome pageWhat's NewCNI Epilepsy Center
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Our specialists are happy to discuss your individual case with you. Serious inquiries only, please. For an appointment, call 303-788-4600. For other information
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The first time Casey Wisenberg remembers having a seizure was in high school, in the middle of a presentation she was giving to her class. She was 15. Ten years earlier, Casey's mother had suffered a grand mal seizure. Now Casey was scared the same thing might be happening to her.
She
was diagnosed with epilepsy and not long after that she had surgery to
remove malformed capillaries in her brain. Her doctor said the condition
can cause seizures and was hereditary.
"We were hoping the surgery would make things better, but it didn't stop the seizures," she said. "I was very, very disappointed."
Various medications were prescribed, and soon Casey was taking 22 pills every single day. She missed a lot of high school going in and out of hospitals, switching medications frequently, and becoming more and more frustrated. "It totally ruined high school for me. I was constantly playing catch up."
Casey found the CNI Epilepsy Center after graduation. She immediately connected with her doctors. "I love the whole CNI team," she said. "Everyone is so supportive and very knowledgeable. They have all the answers right there." CNI treated Casey with medications for about a year, until new tests indicated she might again be a candidate for surgery.
In February 2002, an electrical grid was surgically implanted in Casey's brain to pinpoint the exact area where the seizures were occurring. On February 22, 2002, she had a second surgery to remove the damaged area that was causing the seizures. After 12 days in the hospital, she went home.
For a short time, Casey says she had memory difficulties, but as she recovered she found that she could understand and retain information much more easily. Now she is amazed at the difference.
"It totally improved my life. Not having to worry about seizures took away a lot of stress. It's the greatest thing I ever did."
Casey is now a full time student at college and works part time too. She is thrilled that she got her drivers license before she turned 20. While her experience may be inspiring to others, she doesn't consider herself especially brave. "I just did what I had to do," she said simply. "It was a chance to improve my life. Anyone would do the same thing with the options I had."
Having surgery for my epilepsy was the best decision that I've ever made. Since my surgery I've had no seizures, not even an aura. It's like living again! Everybody says I'm a completely different person from what I was a year ago. There's nothing I can't do for myself now. I'm planning to go back to work soon and if no seizures in a year's time, I can drive again.
My life after epilepsy surgery has improved tremendously. The ability to do the one thing in life that I have always wanted to do is now there -- DRIVE. It is nice to be able to be independent. It is also nice not having to worry about the next seizure.
I had a right temporal lobectomy which has made me seizure free to this day. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the doctor who referred me to CNI. I am currently working a full time and part time job. I have been driving the past six years. I have become very independent and become a new person in more ways than one. Medical technology has come a long way and into the future.
Two days after she was born three months prematurely, Emma Short had a stroke. It left some scar tissue on her brain that began causing epileptic seizures when she was ten. Over the next 17 years, Emma's seizures became more frequent and more severe, and eventually leading any kind of normal life was virtually impossible. That's when her Grand Junction neurologist referred her to the CNI Epilepsy Center.
When he first met Emma, Dr. Ron Kramer had a feeling that she might be a candidate for a hemispherectomy, in which half the brain is removed in an effort to cure the seizures. Remarkably, the remaining hemisphere is able to take over the functioning of the whole brain. After weeks of testing and consultation with the CNI epilepsy team, it was determined that she was indeed a candidate.
While it is certainly a dramatic and risky surgery, hemispherectomies are successful nine out of ten times in slowing seizures or curing them altogether. Emma and her family decided that her quality of life had gotten so bad that it was worth the risk.In an eight-hour surgery, the CNI team, led by neurosurgeon Dr. Timothy Fullagar, was able to remove the diseased part of Emma's brain, disconnect the rest of the hemisphere, and leave the motor function on the opposite side of her brain intact.
Today, Emma is seizure free. For the first time, she has
a chance to do some of the things she only dreamed about, like getting
a driver's license. And she still has her sense of humor. As Emma told
the Grand Junction Sentinel, "All they had to do was trash half my brain."
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Colorado Neurological
Institute Epilepsy Center
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