I'm a pre-med who's been lurching on these forums for years and reading through this thread has been more helpful than talking IRL to some people about medicine. Thank you for doing this!
Anyways, I have refractory epilepsy (>15 seizures/month on average) and after years of urging by my epilepsy doctors, I am finally heading down the surgery path this summer. I just barely crawled across the finish line of undergrad (still did well), but wanting to head to medical school in a few years is a big part of my decision. As much as epilepsy has messed up my life, I'm kind of glad I waited and Stereo-EEG is now the standard of care versus subdural grid electrodes for pre-surgical "testing." Still blows my mind that people had to get a craniotomy to determine if they were a candidate for surgery. As if refractory epilepsy wasn't sh*** enough.
I know SDN isn't for medical advice and I'm not looking for comments on my case, but I'm wondering 1) how common it is for patients to not want surgery/be scared. I imagine this might be more common in a field like neurosurgery where the surgeries and potential complications are really scary. How do you convince patients like me that surgery is the best option? I know my doctors are almost certainly right and that epilepsy surgeries have great outcomes but it's still terrifying.
2) Do you ever advise patients to wait if you think there's a new, better technique right around the corner? Obviously some patients can't afford to wait, but for the one's that can, is that ever something that happens? Similarly, is it common for centers to advise that patients seeks out surgery at other centers where there is better/newer technology? I know Stereo-EEG, for example is still only available at certain centers, and many centers are still using subdural grids. Do these centers not inform patients of the option to seek out Stereo-EEG at other centers?