WP: Experts Optimistic About Senator Johnson's Recovery

[DeepModem Mom]

Experts Optimistic About Senator's Recovery
By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 15, 2006; Page A04

The experience of other people who have suffered bleeding from arteriovenous malformations inside the brain suggests that Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), who underwent emergency surgery for that condition Wednesday night, has at least a 50-50 chance of full recovery.

The 59-year-old senator may need another operation or other procedure to completely defuse the abnormal tangle of blood vessels inside his head that he was born with. But statistics suggest that his chance of suffering another bleeding episode in the near future is less than 10 percent and that his brain function is likely to improve from now on.

"I think his prognosis for recovery is very good," said Laligam Sekhar, a neurosurgeon at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and former chairman of neurosurgery at George Washington Medical Center, where Johnson was treated. "Any disability now is going to depend on where the malformation was and what his condition was going into surgery."

Johnson's physicians provided no details on his condition. But the senator's office said he responded to his wife's voice and held her hand, and the Capitol physician, John Eisold, said he is "appropriately responsive to both word and touch" -- suggesting that he is conscious and may be able to communicate.

Many people harbor arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) unknowingly for decades. When they bleed, 10 to 15 percent of patients die within hours, 35 percent suffer permanent disability and about 50 percent recover more or less completely. The prevalence of AVMs is not known with precision, though one estimate is that about one-half of 1 percent of people have them....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121401797.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. I wouldn't worry too much...

He's been doing good so far and he is getting the best care in the US.

Besides, I had my brain out years ago and it didn't bother me a bit.

Well, there is the drooling, but I don't go out much. ;-)

[barb162]

5. bwaha

[zanne]

7. Why didn't you go for the transplant?

I have a rarely-used brain you can have.

[TankLV]

24. It's in kept in a jar labeled "Abby" something...

[Deep13]

9. "I had my brain out years ago ..."

In that case you are on the wrong website. I think this is what you want.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/browse

[LeftishBrit]

35. You're having us all on!

If you'd really had your brain out, you'd be a Republican!

[JI7]

2. good, he has been through a lot just in the last few years

fighting prostate cancer and having his son go off to Afghanistan and Iraq . his son is home now and he is cured of prostate cancer. and he will get through this also.

[Erika]

4. He's a guy that walked the walk

rather than talking the talk. Our thoughts are with him.

[Cha]

19. Wow, the trifecta!

Our Senators are toughies!

[SmellsLikeDeanSpirit]

3. Very good news. Lets all hope he comes back better than before.

[usregimechange]

6. Good bit of reporting.

[HappyWeasel]

8. Well, I take it that this is good news.

Get well soon, Senator. I am saying this now as the apparent political discussion of this issue is over.

[INdemo]

13. This is great news

Now maybe the media will shut up about a Republican controlled Senate.......The Republicans have shown us that they are no longer a political party but a group of individuals that only care about their own well being. They could care less about human life as long as they accomplish their own self serving goals.

[Straight Shooter]

10. I hope we will hear more good news soon from his attending physicians.

I appreciate what Dr. Sekhar has to say. It sounds encouraging. :)

Best wishes to Tim Johnson and his family, may he have a complete recovery. :)

[Beelzebud]

11. My father had, and was successfully treated for AVM.

It's scary, but it is a treatable condidtion. My father suffers from some short term memory loss, but he is still himself and has done fine for 15 years since the surgery.

[Kber]

12. Looks like if you don't die in the first few hours

your chances for complete and total recovery is the most likely outcome. (50% full recovery vs 35% some kind of permanent damage.)

[Deep13]

14. This was caught very early too.

I believe that will cause those odds to be skewed even more in his favor.

[krispos42]

20. It's a good thing he was not in South Dakota when it happened

I'm not sure where he lives in SD, and Sioux Falls has a pretty decent hospital, but he might have lost a lot of time getting to SF from, say, Aberdeen or Watertown. On the plus side, they could have choppered him to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. If they couldn't save him, nobody this side of God could have.

[TwilightZone]

21. Sioux Falls has two "pretty decent hospitals"

Sioux Valley and Avera McKennan. Sioux Valley, in particular, has a very highly-rated stroke center.

[krispos42]

22. Ack, forgot about Avera McKenna!!!

I was not worried so much about the quality of the medical services as the time it takes to get to them. If you live in a city you can get preliminary treatment at a local hospital immediately, but the experts are a couple of hours away. I used to live across the street from HRMC and saw the medical helicopter land there on a regular basis. Shook the hell out of the house!

My ex and I went to the Sioux Valley hospital for fertility treatments. As you can see, they worked! :-)

[TwilightZone]

23. Agreed. Had it been campaign season and he was in, say, Eagle Butte...

it would have been a lot scarier.

Sioux Valley's stroke center has a pretty solid reputation, so he probably would have ended up there. A few years ago, they might have just flown him straight to Minneapolis to U of M Medical Center. They handle a ton of brain injury/stroke issues.

Congrats on the little one!

[krispos42]

26. Yeah, if it had happened in Eagle Butte, or Custer...

or maybe Alpena visiting the jerky plant, the delay would have dragged his IQ down quite a bit. He might have become one of those 31-percenters!

[Deep13]

15. Huh-huh-huh, she said "Johnson."

Yeah, heh-heh-heh.

[Bumblebee]

16. Josh Marshall about the other article in the WP

(December 15, 2006 -- 11:33 AM EST // link)

The Post says senate Republicans are going to push for what amounts to a special Johnson mortality clause in the resolution to organize the senate.
-- Josh Marshall

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121400379_pf.html

I suggest if that's the case we go for mortality clauses for Specter and Thomas who are both suffering from cancer... Fucking unbelievable.

[Deep13]

18. When he recovers and comes back to work, they will have some 'splaining to do.

He might send some of those R senators to surgery themselves.

[Zambero]

17. Roberston and Falwell petition the Lord for "mercy"

"Receive and commend the spirit of your long-suffering public servant into thy divine arms, almighty Lord!"

Not to worry however, God ain't listening to their prayers!

[Straight Shooter]

25. A nighttime wish for full recovery for the good Sen. Johnson.

:)

[Greatwildbeast]

27. Ghouls at Fox News hoping for Senator's death

All from the proud sponsors of the party who let Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms sit in diapers drooling over legislation they couldn't read or understand:


"And so, we’ll have to see what happens in terms of, you know, what exactly his (Senator Tim Johnson D. South Dakota) condition is and who’s going to weigh in on whether it should be declared an incapacitation or whether that’s just clear from the facts".

Watch the video at:

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/14/johnson-fox-news/

Typical bastard Republicans: Vultures waitin' to eat lunch.

And that's an insult to a fine bird...

[sillyphoenix]

28. unbelievable

They're speaking as if it's an inevitability! Exactly what the fsck are they playing at?

[wildflowergardener]

30. fox

I know - I listened to a clip from them on one of the radio shows and they sounded almost gleeful in the thought that the senate might turn over because of this. You could tell from their voices.

I, personally felt kind of bad worrying even thinking about the senate when a man's life was in danger - but never in a million years would I wish for something to die or become incapacitated just to gain power.

Meg

[FreeStateDemocrat]

31. I'm sure most decent Americans will be glad to see Senator Johnson healthy and re-elected in 2008.

[njdemocrat106]

29. Great news!

Continue sending thoughts, prayers, good energy, and what-have-you to Senator Johnson and his family. They're certainly in mine.

[AnnieBW]

32. If They Take Out Part Of Sen. Johnson's brain

Does this mean that he'll switch parties and become a Republican? Or maybe they'll just take out enough so that he understands what * is saying.

[ArtiChoke]

33. WP needs to hire a statistician...

"has at least a 50-50 chance of full recovery"

"10 to 15 percent of patients die within hours, 35 percent suffer permanent disability and about 50 percent recover more or less completely. "


The senator has closer to two-thirds(59%) chance of full recovery. Since he survived the surgery he belongs to the 85% that survive more than a few hours and most of them (50/85) have a full recovery.

[Danmel]

34. Larry Dierker of the Houston Astros had an AVM

He passed outin the dugout- they took him to the hospital- he had surgery and was back in a few months.

I of course hope that Senator Johnson has a speedy and complete recovery.

[Straight Shooter]

36. Saturday night, and I'm still hoping for Sen. Johnson's complete recovery.

All the best to him and his family. :)