Tag-Team Brain Surgery Leads to Quick Recovery for Homer Glen Woman

Last summer, Sue (who wishes to remain anonymous) experienced numbness on the right side of her face that lasted for over 10 minutes. She knew something wasn’t right and headed to the Silver Cross Emergency Department. She was diagnosed with a seizure and started on medication immediately.

A CT Scan of her brain led to the discovery of a large tumor located inside her skull coming from the covering of her brain. A meningioma is a benign tumor of the covering the brain, which classically grows very slowly but can lead to severe headaches, seizures, and sometimes paralysis.

While at Silver Cross, two Northwestern Medicine Neuroscience specialists - Drs. M. Kamran Khan and Harish Shownkeen, sat with Sue and her family to discuss a plan of care.

“I knew that they were good,” said the 54-year-old Homer Glen woman. “They explained what was going to happen every step of the way.”

Meningioma’s can be very vascular meaning they have robust blood flow making for surgery to be complicated. That’s why, Dr. Shownkeen, who is the medical director of the Silver Cross’ neurointerventional program, first embolized the tumor-effectively stopping the blood supply to the tumor making it safer for its removal. A few days later, Dr. Khan, one of Northwestern’s two neurosurgeons at Silver Cross Hospital, performed a craniotomy. With the tumor less vascular, he was able to completely and safely remove the tumor and replace the skull.

Sue woke up from surgery on August 22, 2016 without any problems and after a successful recovery went home four days later.

“My stay was wonderful—from the food to the nurses, everything was top-notch. I couldn’t have been treated nicer,” said Sue. “My Neuro Team visited me daily.”

Sue continued her recovery with outpatient speech therapy once a week over four weeks at The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago at Silver Cross Hospital. “The doctors told me that it could take six months to fully heal; however, I was doing great after six weeks and was cleared to go back to work,” said Sue. “I am so pleased that words can hardly describe how it turned out. My treatment was phenomenal.”

“It was a pleasure to take care of Sue. I am happy to say we have the full complement of care necessary to manage any neurologic disorder at Silver Cross and look forward to continuing to help patients like Sue”, says Dr. Khan.

Dr. Khan adds that if you experience, headaches, seizures, blurred vision, weakness in the legs or arms, numbness or speech problems, seek help immediately as these are the signs of a stroke or a neurological disorder. Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. Silver Cross Hospital is a designated Primary Stroke Center and can diagnosis, stabilize, treat and recover patients on the New Lenox campus. For more information, visit www.silvercross.org/neuro.

About Silver Cross Hospital

Silver Cross Hospital is an independent, not-for-profit health care provider serving Will County and southwest suburban communities since 1895. Silver Cross has been recognized as a Truven Health Analytics 100 Top Hospitals National Award winner for seven consecutive years, a Hospital of Choice by the American Alliance of Healthcare Providers and was honored with an “A” Hospital Safety GradeSM by The Leapfrog Group for five consecutive periods. With over 4,200 employees, physicians and volunteers, Silver Cross operates a 296-bed acute care hospital and 5 satellite facilities providing outpatient services and physician offices. Silver Cross opened a state-of-the-art replacement hospital in 2012 at I-355 and Route 6 in New Lenox. In 2016, Silver Cross provided over $37 million in charity care and other community benefits. To learn more about Silver Cross Hospital or a referral to a physician on staff, visit www.silvercross.org. Physicians on Silver Cross Hospital’s Medical Staff have expertise in their areas of practice to meet the needs of patients seeking their care. These physicians are independent practitioners on the Medical Staff and are not the agents or employees of Silver Cross Hospital. They treat patients based upon their independent medical judgment and they bill patients separately for their services.

Image: Northwestern Medicine specialists Dr. M. Kamran Khan and Dr. Harish Shownkeen review images of Sue's brain tumor in Silver Cross Hospital's Endovascular Neuro Lab.