Hello everyone!

My mother is 53 with moyamoya. Dr. Rose is doing both STA and EMS bypass on the right side of her brain. The surgery is Dec. 12th at Methodist Hosp. in Houston Tx.
She is worried she may have more strokes being off her Plavix and aspirin before the surgery. I am trying to communicate with others to help comfort her. I really appreciate everyone's previous responses.
How long is recovery once she is out of the hospital? I have read about the surgeries, but can anyone explain once more about the procedures?
Thanks again everyone! Happy Thanksgiving!
                                     a.k.

a.k.
I don't know if there is a difference between recovery for children and adults. However, Tyler (11-yrs-old at time of surgery) was swimming a week after his second surgery. For him I'd say recovery was a matter of days. I don't think it could be alot more for adults, DJ will know for certain. I think someone else will be better to explain the surgery to you. I think Tyler had the STA, but I'm terrible at remembering exact names, I just know what they did.
Your family is in my prayers.

Hi A.K.

I'm glad you asked your question because I'm wondering the same thing.  Have any adults had the Pial Synangiosis that Dr. Scott performs?  My surgery is in a week and a half and I have no idea what to expect in terms of a scar, pain, recovery.  I know Dr. Scott is a wonderful doctor, but it's nice to know what to expect.  I'm also worried about going off of the aspirin for 10 days before the surgery.  My parent's want me to come home and live with them when I do (they're a bit worried!)!  

By the way - an update on my insurance situation...The insurance company upheld their denial.  The next step would have been to actually get a lawyer and fight them on the next level but I decided not to.  My new insurance policy (better coverage) starts December 1 (phew!!!).

-Shari

I don't know how long you've been on the boards, but if you haven't seen the pictures of my niece Mandy after her surgery, you may want to look at some pictures that DJ posted. They're great and reassuring. They were for us worring here at home. He sat with my family all day through Mandy's surgery and took them afterwards and she looks great. They're in the archives: Feb.-July 2003 scroll all the way down to March 04, posted by DJ. Titled-Mandy, Ed & DJ - 03/04/03 There are several others to look at too. As with the recent pictures of Timothy, they're up and around in no time. It's amazing! I wish I knew the right words to say to those of you waiting to have the surgery. I can't imagine what that must be like. I've only been on the waiting end of it. Try not to be worried and know that you're in alot of peoples prayers.

God bless,
Mar

Hi ak and Shari!

All I can do here is give you my experience with the STA-MCA surgery and try to help you understand the different types of surgeries...

There are basically two different types of surgery:
a) Direct method (STA-MCA)
b) In-Direct method (EDAS, EMS).  By the way, Pial Synangiosis is another name for the EDAS procedure.
Both are explained in detail in the Medical Info section of this site: http://www.moyamoya.com/journals/moyamoya.html

I think Dr. Steinberg explains the STA-MCA procedure in layman's terms the best in the video from the main page of this site.  If you haven't downloaded the video, I highly suggest you download the entire video when you get the chance...  it's good stuff.  If you haven't seen the video yet, I've cut the explanation of the STA-MCA procedure down to a much smaller file that will be easier to download.  You can see the smaller file by clicking this link: http://www.moyamoya.com/STAexplained.wmv.

As for the scars, I seem to be the "odd man out".  Dr. Steinberg used the frontal branch of the STA for both of my surgeries which is why my scars look like this:
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or http://www.moyamoya.com/djscar1.jpg Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or http://www.moyamoya.com/djscar2.jpg

All other's I've seen... Mandy, Amber, Lisa, Timothy all have "vertical" scars like Timothy's recent picture:
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or http://www.moyamoya.com/timothyscar.jpg

As for the pain and recovery time, I will only speak on my behalf for both of my surgeries.  I think it best others give their own spin on how their surgeries went.

I had virtually NO PAIN involved with either of my surgeries.  I was up running around the hospital like a 'normal person' within 24 hours each time.  The only "recovery time" I realized after each surgery was not being able to open my mouth as wide at first.  There was no pain involved, but since the upper jaw muscles were cut during the surgeries and sewed back together tighter, the muscles took a couple of months to stretch themselves back out.

Hope this answers some of your questions!!
;;D

As far as scars go, Tyler has one of each. The one on the right starts just in front of his ear and is just about vertical. The one on the left starts just in front of his ear and curves forward to his forehead. It surprised the doctors that the curved one is covered better by his hair than the straight one.

Rena and DJ - Thanks for the explanations.  I didn't realize that the EDAS procedure IS the Pial Synangiosis.  As you all know - Knowledge is power and every bit helps.  Thanks again!

-Shari

Finally got a second to put these up.  For those of you wondering about scars, here are how Tyler's scars have healed up.  He had a vertical on one side and a curved one on the other side...

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or http://www.moyamoya.com/tylerscar1.jpg

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or http://www.moyamoya.com/tylerscar2.jpg

Rena, sorry it took me so long to get these up!

:)

No problem DJ. Just so eveyone knows the vertical scar is about 1/2 inch wide. I don't think most people scars are this wide so Tyler's scar is more visable due to the width. The curved one barely shows except righ after a hair cut. Hope this helps eveyone going into this to know the scars really aren't bad.