The Terrible Beauty Of Brain Surgery

“Mrs. Kelly’s Monster” Analysis “Mrs. Kelly’s Monster,” a short story by Jon Franklin, follows the factual story of a neurosurgeon performing a complicated, difficult surgery on a woman who has a complicated medical condition. Mrs. Kelly, the woman in question, calls this medical condition her “monster.” The condition has caused two aneurysms in and around her brain that could rupture and cause death at any time. Franklin follows the story in a narrative journalistic style, creating tension, suspense, and vivid imagery through such traditional literary devices as personification, onomatopoeia, and pacing.

The progress of neuroscience has been significant in the past 500 years. and with the advance of technology, there is yet a multitude of chapters left to write in the history books of neuroscience. The book The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: written by Sam Kean was an engrossing and captivating read. It gives the reader a better appreciation for the growing pains of neuroscience and provides an educational, albeit entertaining overview of the anatomy and physiology of the brain and nervous system. From the early life and discoveries of Santiago Ramón y Cajal and his fascination with Golgi’s method la razione nera, which allowed Cajal to deduct after observing

Imagine a situation where your entire personality is changed forever by an object that pierces an area of your brain. Those who have had a frontal lobotomy, whether purposefully or not, have had their personality changed permanently. An unlucky foreman of the Rutland Railroad, Phineas Gage, was on the receiving end of a tragic occurrence that severed the frontal lobe area of his prefrontal cortex. He underwent the experience of having a railroad spike pierce him beneath his left cheek and exit through his skull, consequently injuring an important area of his brain. This occurrence changed one part of Gage’s personality completely, though he seemed almost entirely functional after his accident. The one thing that changed in Gage was his ability to imagine the future. He lived completely present in the moment. The unique accident that affected Phineas Gage can be broken down with various different philosophical approaches to answer what is called the “mind-body problem”. The mind-body problem is composed of attempting to explain things like beliefs, consciousness, emotions, etc., in organisms. Physicalism, dualism, and functionalism all have their unique explanation for the mind-body problem’s implication of Phineas Gage’s accident.

Thesis: I believe that…whole brain death is the best definition of death suitable for the use of organ transplantation.

I read the article, “Secrets of the Brain”, found in the February 2014 issue of National Geographic written by Carl Zimmer. I chose this subject because I have been fascinated with the brain and how it works. The research of the brain has been ongoing for many centuries now. The history in this article is interesting. It explained how scientists used to understand the brain and its inner workings. For example, “in the ancient world physicians believed that the brain was made of phlegm. Aristotle looked on it as a refrigerator, cooling of the fiery heart. From his time through the Renaissance, anatomists declared with great authority that our perceptions, emotions, reasoning, and actions were all the result of “animal spirits”—mysterious, unknowable vapors that swirled through cavities in our head and traveled through our bodies.” (Zimmer, p. 38)

The nineteenth century saw an explosion in knowledge regarding the brain unlike any before. For centuries, the brain had been considered the seat of human intelligence. However, the brain of the classics was a singular organ of

As a student of psychology I have read about this procedure a few times during my studies. It seems possible that the doctors who performed this type of surgery may have been more interested in stretching the boundaries of medicine and gaining notoriety versus the actual care of the patient. The term psychosurgery describes a surgical intervention to change another person’s mood, thoughts, or behavior. This procedure was coined the frontal lobotomy. The procedure involved cutting the major connections between the prefrontal cortex and the rest of the brain. Lobotomies became part of a new age treatment for neurological diseases in the early 20th century. The original procedure, also known as a leucotomy, involved an injection of alcohol into

The case from the first section that had the greatest impact on me was the man who fell out of Bed. Sacks’ tells a story of a man who had a limb but would suddenly became unware the leg belonged to him; he felt as if a phantom leg had

The concept of neuroplasticity has long been questioned. The term of “neuroplasticity” did not even come about until the mid-late 20th century. When the term “plastic” was used to describe the brain by a select few neuroscientists, they were laughed at and the term was never thought of as a description for the human brain. The human brain was seen as a closed circuit and one that once you had it, you definitely had it. Scientists thought the brain would not develop anymore past a certain point in your life. Norman Doidge brings the concept of neuroplasticity into reality in his book “The Brain that Changes Itself,” a book about the triumphs in the frontier of brain science.

The surgeons lift things away. He tries not to look, but he can’t help it... The fear surrounds him, threatening to take him under. He tries to replace it with anger, but the fear is too strong... He does not deserve this.

On the third night, in John Perry’s Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, Gretchen Weirob, Sam Miller and Dave Cohen discuss the concept of survival after a brain transplant. Weirob, who is in her death bed after an accident and is attempting to figure out a way of surviving after death, states that she would not want to attempt survival by having her brain implanted into another body. She believes that this is not truly surviving, as she will no longer be herself- she will lose her personal identity.

In the novel “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales,” Oliver Sacks, who is a physician, presents twenty-four different short stories, which recounts the different patients he encountered while practicing. He deepens the reader's understanding by showing the relationships he developed with his patients. Dr. Sacks presents his stories in four sections: losses, excesses, transports, and the world is simple, in order to convey common themes in neurological disorder.

I stare fascinated as the doctor deftly slices through the patient’s flesh. Hands operate swiftly on the supine body; not a trace of doubt could be found in the movements.

There was a point in time in which the world of medicine was very unevolved and humanity knew so little about certain areas of the body. In the case of the play “a Doll House” and the story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the brain was very unexplored. Mental illnesses were not really given what in modern day would be called “treatment”. This “treatment” could severely alter the lives of the patients with severe mental consequences.

Dr. Eben Alexander is neurosurgeon with sophisticated medical training and background. In the fall of 2008, Dr. Alexander contracted a very rare bacterial meningitis and spent seven days in a coma. During that time, Dr. Alexanders’ life was slipping away, he explains the emotions and how he was stuck in his own mind. One of the descriptions he gave of his experience in his mind was “ He was reborn into a primitive mucky Jell-o-like substance and then guided by “a beautiful girl with high cheekbones and deep blue eyes” on the wings of a butterfly to an “immense void” that is both “pitch black” and “brimming with light” coming from an “orb” that interprets for an all-loving God.”