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.

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

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:
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All other's I've seen... Mandy, Amber, Lisa, Timothy all have "vertical" scars like Timothy's recent picture:
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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!!
;

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

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.