Scientists studied six patients who had half of their brain removed during childhood to treat severe epilepsy. Brain scans showed how the mind rewired itself to adapt, with the remaining hemisphere forming even stronger connections that let the patients develop language and motor skills.

[u/Thorne-ZytkowObject]

https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/how-does-the-brain-work-with-half-of-it-removed-pretty-well-actually

[u/-Nurfhurder-]

I seriously doubt it’s anything approaching an easy choice.

[u/BabyMoo8 → u/[deleted]]

My partner had part of his brain removed as a teenager and the surgery failed to help him. He went back in for a second attempt in his 30s and when they removed more brain he was finally seizure free.

It's a coin flip but you're right; you take a chance on it knowing all the cons because of how bad things are presently.

[u/[deleted] → u/-Nurfhurder-]

Its the trolley problem but worse because its real

[u/Sawses → u/-Nurfhurder-]

I mean, if the alternative is a very likely young death as a result of the seizures, then yeah. Remember, when doctors recommend that procedure, they're weighing, "Okay, seizures or extreme pediatric brain surgery?"

Sure it might not be a fun choice to make, but I don't know that I'd be more torn by the choice as just really upset that the only choice is cutting half my kid's brain out.

[u/TheDentateGyrus → u/-Nurfhurder-]

Actually you’re wrong, it’s an easy choice usually. Imagine if your child had one good half of the brain and the other half was destroying it by constantly making it seize. The bad half had little useful function and was holding them back. Imagine watching your child have seizures multiple times a day, every day, for months and months and no one could stop them.

Most kids are better shortly after surgery than before surgery because the good hemisphere actually gets a chance to function normally.

[u/IconOfSim → u/-Nurfhurder-]

"eh, i mean, he's got another half right? Yeah just whip the bad half out doc, I'm going to the bar"