Just over a year ago, Brynlee got a sinus infection. She felt better for a while after taking antibiotics. Then, suddenly, her symptoms returned and worsened quickly. Melanie, took her to a doctor in Okotoks but with her high fever, vomiting and pain, they sent her by ambulance to ACH Emergency.
Emergency physicians suspected the sinus infection had returned. They ordered a CT scan that Melanie presumed was just to be safe. However, before she could fully process what was going on, the neurosurgery team was explaining that her little girl needed an operation – right away. The CT scan revealed a life-threatening abscess. The sinusitis had penetrated her skull and, in addition to the abscess, there was widespread infection surrounding her entire brain. The brain, especially in childhood, is incredibly complex and vulnerable. It is central to development, intelligence, personality and lifelong potential. Neurosurgeons know that accuracy to the fraction of a millimetre is crucial.
Thanks to community generosity, ACH is equipped with state-of-the-art intra-operative ultrasound technology and special probes funded by Radiothon donations. That equipment enabled surgeons to use real-time radiation-free ultrasound imagery throughout Brynlee’s surgery to navigate the straightest, shortest, safest path to the abscess and carefully remove it without affecting surrounding healthy areas of the brain. Before this technology, surgeons might have to close kids up and send them to Diagnostic Imaging for more imaging to ensure they’d removed as much of the abscess as possible.
To relieve the pressure of swelling in her brain, and because the infection had seeped into the bone, a piece of Brynlee’s skull needed to be removed and eventually replaced with a 3D printed replica. It was understandably overwhelming for her family at times, yet, Brynlee has many good memories of her time in hospital.
Today, Brynlee is fully recovered, enjoying school, synchronized swimming and playing with her friends and three dogs (she got the third one because she was such a trooper with this surgery).
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