Photo via Iga Jasica/Facebook
Nineteen-year-old Iga Jasica from Poland has been in the news lately after rumors spread that she accidentally woke up during brain surgery and chatted with the medical team about cats. While only part of this story is accurate, we’re happy to share that the conversation about cats during her mid-brain surgery is true. Iga shared on her Facebook page Saturday that her brief awareness during the procedure was actually intended.
The teen told well wishers that when it came to the publications sharing her story, many “articles have a lot of mistakes.” She explains that far from being a shock to her doctors, “waking me up was deliberate – This method is called Awake Craniatomy. It was deliberate and planned.”
Jasica even provided readers with a link to the website of University Hospital Southampton where the surgery is described in detail. “An awake craniotomy is an operation performed in the same manner as a conventional craniotomy but with the patient awake during the procedure. This is a preferred technique for operations to remove lesions close to, or involving, eloquent (functionally important) regions of the brain. This allows us to test regions of the brain before they are incised or removed and allows us to test patient’s function continuously throughout the operation. The overall aim is to minimise the risks of such operations,” it says.
Despite the fact that her brain was indeed exposed during the waking parts of her surgery, neurosurgeon Dawid Larysz recently assured The Daily Mirror that Jasica would not have been able to see or hear anything. “Despite coming round, she didn’t feel anything and was never in danger,” he said.
Jasica herself later commented, “I can’t remember much, but the doctor said he talked to me about cats, which I love. I missed Christmas because of this operation, but it is the best present I could have had, as I am now feeling great.”
She stresses on her Facebook page that the “operation was successful and there was nothing damaged.” The teen says it’s important to her that people know that the “Doctors saved my life” and encourages readers to “not be influenced by stupid articles.”
Otherwise the 19-year-old seems to be progressing well in her recovery and is looking forward to healthier days. Whether or not she’s decided to seize the opportunity to regale countless future strangers with bad jokes about being the “brains of the operation” she has yet to reveal.