Ahmad's Story: A Boy After Br... Video Transcript

Participants

, Ahmad and His Father , Fred J. Epstein MD, Marty Moss-Coane

Summary

On this webcast, 11-year-old Ahmad Abdella joins us to talk about life after brain surgery. What are his feelings about the procedure? How was his recovery? Are his symptoms gone? Join us to hear his side of the story. Ahmad's father will also speak about his experiences, and surgeon Fred Epstein, MD will be on hand to discuss Ahmad's recovery and follow-up.

Webcast Transcript

MARTY MOSS-COANE: Welcome to our webcast. I'm Marty Moss-Coane. It was only after he had turned 11 that Ahmad Ab Della began complaining about the headaches and breathing difficulties which he had suffered from in silence since he was 8 years old. Thinking it was a sinus problem, his father took him to an ear, nose and throat specialist, which led to a series of tests and referrals that resulted in the final diagnosis -- Ahmad had a brain tumor.

After careful consideration, surgery was elected as the best treatment and just a few months ago, Ahmad underwent the five-hour procedure. How did it turn out? Well, he can tell you himself because he's here with us today to share his experiences. And Ahmad, thanks so much for joining us. Nice to have you here.

Let me also introduce Ahmad's father and his name is Mag De Ab Della. Nice to have you here as well.

FATHER: Thank you.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: And our third guest is Ahmad's surgeon and his name is Dr. Fred Epstein. He's founding director of the Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Thanks for joining us as well.

Let me begin with you, Ahmad. And I'm sure people want to know how you're feeling today. How are you feeling? You had this surgery in May.

AHMAD: Good.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: Do you feel like yourself?

AHMAD: Yes.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: Tell me a little bit about the headaches that you had and how you were feeling before you had the surgery.

AHMAD: I wasn't feeling that good because every -- every, every day I had like bad headaches and then sometimes I used to wake up from the headaches from how bad they were.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: Was it hard for you to play with your friends? Or go to school? That kind of thing.

AHMAD: Yes.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: What did you tell your dad, that when you told him finally you were feeling so badly.

AHMAD: I told him I had a bad headache and then he took me to a doctor and the doctor said I had a brain tumor after he -- I had some X-rays. And then, before all that happened, I saw blinking dots in front of me.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: So when you would look, you would see something like blinking dots? When they told you, you had a brain tumor, what did you think about that?

AHMAD: I didn't know til like two days before the surgery.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: Tell me a little bit about the surgery. I'm sure you don't remember the surgery itself, but do you remember what it was like right before the surgery or what your doctor or what your parents told you?

AHMAD: I didn't feel scared for some reason.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: And you don't know why?

AHMAD: I don't know why.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: What did they tell you? What did your doctor tell you about the surgery?

AHMAD: You're not going to remember anything about it.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: And so you remember being in the hospital -- I guess being taken down for the surgery. And what's the next thing you remember?

AHMAD: Waking up.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: How did you feel?

AHMAD: I felt like I wanted to go back to sleep.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: Felt kind of groggy.

AHMAD: Yeah.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: When did you begin to feel better?

AHMAD: The next day.

MARTY MOSS-COANE: The next day. Does that mean you didn't feel headaches? You felt more like your old self.

AHMAD: Yeah. And from the first day I didn't feel anything. I was just lying in bed the whole day and then the next day I started to get up.