Doc needs rock to operate

<p>Dr. Don Penney unwraps and arranges a host of surgical tools, laying out the small titanium screws, sharp scalpels and bone cement he will use for a rare brain surgery procedure.</p><p>Before he dives into the operation, the neurosurgeon leans over to a stereo cabinet to turn up the volume on the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil."</p><p>The louder the music, he says, the better his concentration.</p><p>The patient, 38-year-old Munaf Ramjohn, lies sedated on a gurney in Gwinnett Medical Center. He had a massive stroke six months ago that threatened to overwhelm his brain stem and kill him. By the time Penney was called, Ramjohn's breathing was short and labored, his right arm drawing against his body and his pupils were dilated.</p><p>Penney had performed a routine procedure months ago to remove a section of the skull to give the swelling brain room to expand. He tucked the missing skull bone in a pocket below Ramjohn's rib because if he had refrigerated, it would have shrunk. "Mr. Ramjohn got to be his own refrigerator," Penney said.</p><p>Now that the brain swelling has subsided, Penney retrieves the glistening bone as Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" blares in the background.</p><p>He gingerly uses tweezers to remove a blood-soaked layer of artificial membrane molded to the brain, revealing pinkish bruised brain tissue.</p><p>"This poor man has been through enough," Penney said. "When his skull is back together, we want it to look perfect."</p><p>Penney, his focus sharpened by the music, screwed down bone into the skull, inserting it like it was a missing puzzle piece.</p><p>Exhausted after the four-hour procedure, Penney then rolls into the recovery room, where he waits until Ramjohn wakes up.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cd9d14)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/9/139409