Houston patients play instruments during brain surgery
It's hard to imagine, but two local men underwent brain surgery, not only awake, but while playing their beloved musical instruments.
They recently held their own mini-concert at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the institute that helped save their lives and their abilities to play music.
Medical workers often listen to music in the operating room, just not like this. Adrian Rivas is a skilled drummer who didn't want to lose his ability to play. That was a risk that he could lose motor skills and speech from having a non-cancerous tumor removed from his brain. Adrian's surgeon wanted to reduce that risk by offering him a unique chance to help during his own surgery.
"I had never even heard that was possible that they could do a surgery with you awake. So, I was initially honestly pretty terrified about the idea, and I wasn't sure if I was going to do it at all," says Adrian.
He had been playing drums most of his life and wanted to continue, so playing during surgery would help his doctor identify which parts of his brain affect movements and language. That could help preserve those critical brain functions.
"It is a challenging operation, especially as they wake up from being sedated and then they have to be kept very comfortable, without any kind of pain. Both of them woke up great! It was a very smooth transition," states Dr. Prabhu.
It took encouragement for Adrian to go through with it, but he didn't miss a beat on his portable drum kit. His surgeon, Dr.Sujit Prabhu, encouraged him through a video from the very first patient who did something similar, when Robert Alvarez strummed his guitar during his craniotomy in 2018. He also needed reassurance, especially being the first to ever undergo this at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Prabhu also helped him warm-up to the idea.
"He looked like he had good confidence in his eyes and I trusted it and I said, let's do this," recalls Robert.
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Robert's case was more serious: advanced brain cancer that would require surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. He wanted to make music a priority to help him through the hard times ahead.
"Music is really a highlight of my life and now I just really want to express it to the world how I feel," says Robert.
Dr. Prabhu took both patients into the operating room before surgery to make sure they were comfortable and ready for their challenge.
"We really put a lot of effort into planning, which was very critical in this whole mission because of two things. One is introducing a musical instrument in the operating room and number two, we are planning to do this in the operating room, which has advanced technology with an operative MRI scan, because that really introduces other challenges with metals and any type of instrument," explains Dr. Prabhu.
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Then they have to be kept comfortable, without any kind of pain. And I got to say both of them woke up great. It was a very smooth transition.
"The hospital and everybody was incredibly helpful - they put me at ease - the anesthesiologist, the physical therapists, the nurses, I was just really surprised at how smooth things went there," says Adrian.
Robert kept a great sense of humor through it all.
"I remember the first thing I said, is it safe to move around, and they said to try it, so I started to dance, wiggling, move around," says Robert.
The two patients recently got to meet and agree this form of surgery hit the right chord for them. They even played tunes together for the medical workers who helped save their livelihood and lives at MD Anderson.
"It was really cool to talk about that and he plays in bands, too. We like similar music, and we thought it'd be fun to play a song together," says Adrian.
Dr. Pradhu truly enjoyed this special jam session.
"To see the joy, with both of them have never met before. They seemed like they were best of friends playing together and we listened to a few songs from Nirvana. For me, it was a very humbling experience," says Dr. Prabhu.
These music makers made medical history in Houston, all while music continues to be healing for them.
For more information visit https://www.mdanderson.org/patients-family/diagnosis-treatment/care-centers-clinics/brain-and-spine-center.html