They started to arrive around 8 AM and by 8:15, the room was so crowded. I had to leave.  There were multiple doctors, 2 epilepsy technicians, at least one nurse, the specialist in charge of the study and LOTS of equipment.  Their task was to stimulate the electrodes that they had established were involved in the onset of Brooks' seizures while having Brooks perform tasks.  These tasks included speaking, reading and doing simple physical tasks.  In this way, they could determine what these areas controlled.

After the testing, Brooks was fairly exhausted.  Unable to eat or drink at this point (with the possibility of surgery in the afternoon still looming), he went to sleep.  A bit later, his surgeon, Dr. Van Gompel arrived with the information we had all been waiting for.  The mapping revealed what they had suspected all along.  The seizure "zone" is a speech and language portion of his cortex. They will not resect any part of that.  However, Dr. Van Gompel is confident that removing most of the tumor will relieve the pressure that it puts on this speech area and therefore will relieve the seizures.  There is also a possibility they they may also combine that with an implant that would "intercept" a seizure before it begins.  They will run tests through the weekend to see if Brooks seizures respond to this type of device.  Either way, he will have surgery Monday or Tuesday.  At that point, it will be a matter of a day or two in the ICU, a few more days healing and then he gets to go home and put this all behind him with an exciting new beginning!