the choices we all have to make. what we wrestle with inside our head. will we choose love? or lust? to tell the truth? or lie? when what we choose could lead to a dream or a nightmare. so, now, tonight, we unlock the secrets of your mind. why we do what we do. tonight, when brains break. >> let's go in and cure her. >> for the first time on television, you'll see what happens when an aneurism explodes inside a woman's head and doctors have literally seconds to save her life. >> i love you. >> this woman suffers from chronic epilepsy. >> right now, life is hell.

>> but will radical surgery to remove part of her brain cure her or destroy every memory of her 6-year-old daughter? >> scary. >> high drama. the highest stakes, and our cameras are right there to capture the life and death decisions when something goes terribly wrong inside your mind. good evening, i'm terry more ran, and welcome to "nightline prime." it is the most complex and delicate part of the human body -- the brain -- interlaced with circuitry that governs our thoughts, emotions and the daily decisions we make. but what if something goes wrong in our brains? tonight, we bring you unprecedented access inside the operating room where a top neurosurgeon and his incredible team work everyday on fixing the brain. the drama is real. life and death boiled down to mere seconds. and you will see it all. [ sirens ]

>> a 50-year-old woman's life hangs in the balance. >> dangerous problem. this is a life-threatening problem. it's large blood clot pushing on the brain. it's a dangerous surgery. bad things can happen anytime you do a surgery like this, okay? which includes death. irreversible brain damage, stroke, seizures. but in this situation, our backs are against the wall. if we don't do anything, then all those things will happen, also. >> the woman is donnis tedrow. she is in a deep coma and suffering massive brain hemorrhaging. >> we take it day by day. we take it hour by hour. >> she would not want to be a vegetable. she would not. >> if it comes to that, it comes that, and we'll talk about it. right now, we're just trying to give her the best chance. all right. >> for the best chance, west virginia university's chief of neurosurgery, dr. julian bailes, has been called in. he's a man in the business of saving lives for more than two decades. >> this lady has a tremendously big blood clot. the aneurysm ruptured.

she's in a deep coma. the only hope she has is that we can get the clot out. so, let's go in and cure her. the brain is undoubtedly the most complex structure on the face of the earth. it's the most precious real estate in someone's body, and something we work day and night to try to preserve or to alleviate suffering as much as we can. >> all right, yous be good. i love yous. >> kristy macdonald is a 30-year-old single mother. her seizures started just three years ago and are getting worse. >> right now, life is hell. >> contorting of the body and, you know, her head would just turn. i mean, almost like "the exorcist." it was really just that scary. >> hey, kristy. >> despite a daily regimen of medication to treat them, kristy's seizures are becoming more frequent. >> hey, kristy.

you're all right. >> in a day, i'm not sure. maybe one every -- a couple every week or every two weeks or something like that, i'd say. i'm not really sure, because i don't remember nothing. i just wake up and someone's got to say, "hey, kristy, you had a seizure." and i will say, "okay, i don't know what you are talking about, but okay." >> her family must keep an eye on her at all times, but her young daughter mychaela is the most closely affected. >> this is my baby. and she's always watching out for mommy. how's that? here's your shoes. you got them? i just explain to her that if she ever sees mommy, you know, not responsive and mommy is out of it for a couple minutes, she yells for mommy like, "mommy, mommy!" and she knows if i don't answer her to call somebody. it's hard for her to be 6 years old and going through this. it scary. a 6-year-old taking care of her mommy. >> kristy knows that this is no

way to live, and the stress on her daughter is too much to bear. so she's getting help. dr. bailes will go into her brain to look for the source of her seizures. >> she says, "mommy, when are they going to drill holes in your head?" and i just tell her, they're just going to check mommy out to make sure mommy is okay. when it comes to your head and putting them little holes in my head, into my brain, that's scary. i think it is. it's easier not to even think about everything. i try not to, but it's kind of hard not to do, you know, because it's tomorrow. >> we can't pinpoint where the epilepsy is coming from, so we're going to get some deep brain information. >> kristy is about to have electrodes planted in her head at west virginia university hospital. dr. bailes will be putting tiny wires into her brain to trace

where the seizures are coming from. >> these electrodes will be placed in the area of the hippocampus, all in the anticipation that we would be able to some day find some area that sets off the seizures and that can be removed. >> how many surgeries on people's brains have you performed? >> i don't know. i lost count. thousands. >> thousands? >> i don't get used to it. it's still completely fascinating. just need your signature here. >> the woman who has come in in a deep coma -- donnis tedrow -- is clinging to life. >> we want to get that clot out. we want to remove that pressure of that slowly expanding tennis ball before it becomes irreversible effect to her brain. >> dr. bailes says her chances are 50/50. >> we have a lot of work to do to get her back, and this starts it right now. that's bad.

>> hey, davie, come look at this angry, terrible looking brain. an angry brain is something very bad. >> oh, my goodness. >> for which there often is not real effective treatment. >> an aneurysm occurs when part of a blood vessel abnormally enlarges. dr. bailes thinks donnis tedrow had one that probably exploded, causing a stroke, massive bleeding and clotting in her brain. >> so we're going to open that up, start taking out the clot and hopefully the aneurism doesn't re-resure. >> it's a delicate process that could save tedrow's life. >> i am at the most dangerous part. oh, that's the aneurism right there. yep, that's the aneurism right there. >> dr. bailes will stop the blood flow to her swelling aneurism using tiny clips that will remain locked in her brain forever. >> all right. aneurysm is fixed. okay, so, there's four clips, it took to block off this large aneurism.

about 1:30 in the morning now. >> three hours after donnis tedrow was rushed to the o.r., her surgery is over. >> sorry it's so late. just got done. you know, she had a clot where the aneurism ruptured, and we took a big part of that clot out. that was probably as big as a baseball. you know, probably about halftime, people die instantly when that happens. so, she's really fortunate in that sense. so i am cautiously optimistic. >> donnis tedrow's outcome will not be clear for days. for now, it's a waiting game for her daughter kitty and the rest of her family. >> the day before, she had no symptoms. she was laughing and joking around. >> she collapsed suddenly in front of her home and lay there until a friend found her. there were no signs that donnis tedrow was in so much danger. >> i'm still shocked. i can't believe i'm sitting here. we're praying, crossing our fingers and she'll get there.

she will. >> what you always worry about was, is she going to survive, but be severely disabled? is she not going to be the same person she was? >> three days after surgery, tedrow is still unconscious. >> donnis, can you wake up for me? this is dr. bailes. thumb's up. give me a thumb's up. come on. atta girl. you're doing good. >> she squeezed your thumb. was that significant to you? >> it was absolutely, because not only was she hearing us and processing it, but we were getting output from the input. >> after several weeks of rehabilitation, a brain scan marks her improvement. >> are you walking? >> oh, yeah. you better believe i'm walking. yeah, i am. thanks to you. >> a lot of patients who have such a profound insult to their brain, by the time that we get them, even if it's only been present a few hours, a lot of times they can have ongoing problems, emotional problems, maybe memory problems.

not their old self. but we have no way of controlling that. we have to try to save them, and let that be sorted out later. >> kristy macdonald must accept the reality of that unknown as she fights to regain control of a life taken over by epilepsy. >> her nerves has had it, been through the ropes these past couple days. her family prepares for the possibility that a seizure-free kristy may not be the same kristy they know. >> part of my neurotic things is that my pants can't be too tight. i cannot go into surgery with a full bladder. >> putting the electrodes deep in kristy's brain is a process that begins with drilling holes into her skull. >> mallet? >> this looks almost primitive -- the drilling and the hammering. >> that's part of, you know,

it's called getting access to the brain. the brain's in this closed box, the skull. we've got to penetrate it. gives me a headache just to watch that. this is the entry site above the left ear to get to the hippocampus. >> the hippocampus is the part of the brain where kristy's memory is -- her whole life is in there. >> the electrode is now being placed in through the guide. >> the wires that will transmit her brainwave information are fastened into kristy's skull. >> all those years of using play-doh pays off for something, huh? we're all done. get a good look at the wires coming out. >> the stakes are high. dr. bailes knows kristy is willing to take the risk for her daughter. but one mistake and she won't even remember her when she wakes up. [ female announcer ] food myth #9.

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oh, isn't this fun this early in the morning? >> there is ticking time bomb in carole maxson's head. >> fun, fun, fun. >> she learned about a brain aneurysm while seeing a doctor for neck pain. >> your incision will start right beside your ear and kind of come up to the midline there. >> there's the man. >> you remember me? >> that's the man that's going to fix me. >> you all excited to get this done? >> oh, yes, you have no idea. put me to sleep and get thing get this thing out of my head. >> the prescheduled surgery to fix her aneurysm should be routine for dr. bailes, but even a routine procedure can quickly become an emergency. >> so this is a view from the front, in that maze of vessels is this aneurysm. >> what is an aneurysm? >> an aneurysm is a weakness in the wall of an artery. and it may be that up to 5% of all people have them. and a few of them rupture every year. >> carole maxson's aneurysm is not considered an urgent threat,

but what dr. bailes doesn't know is just how fragile her ballooning blood vessel actually is. >> won't you put on a good song, matt? like "under the bridge" or something? i don't like country and western. i don't like classical. i usually like some sort of rock 'n' roll. what's that song? "insane in the membrane?" who sings that? >> cypress hill. >> yeah, cypress hill. i want to use that. ♪ insane in the membrane ♪ insane in the brain ♪ insame in the membrane ♪ insane in the brain >> my goal, really, is to break up the monotony, to break up the tension. aneurysm is going to be right down in here. about two inches deep. can you get that light out? there's a sterile dime. you can see the size of the space we're working in. i think we see the top of the aneurism. >> in that tiny space, in the next few minutes, something happened. and carole maxson's life was on the line. you are about to witness one of the dangers of brain surgery --

something never seen before on tv. >> there it is. yeah, that round thing is aneurism. it really is very deep in her brain. well, in carole's surgery, her aneurism was found to be extremely thin, extremely fragile. now that's a dangerous aneurism. now that's the kind that ruptures, right? that thing is really thin. >> working in the area around her aneurism, suddenly, it bursts, and it's instantly a matter of life and death for carole maxson. dr. bailes has about 180 seconds to save her. >> give me the clip. all right. now, the aneurism has a very thin part there which has ruptured. that was her dangerous part. give me the angle clip. >> keeping his cool, dr. bailes doesn't convey what a serious crisis he's in. every second counts. carole is on the brink. >> i had to get it fixed, and i had to get it fixed real quickly. >> isn't there a moment where

you say, "oh, no." >> yeah, you have those thoughts, but you can't linger past a second or two with those thoughts. >> dr. bailes must keep his focus. with quick, steady moves, he is attempting to clamp the spurting aneurysm. in the tense quiet, he is working to save carole maxson's life, right before our eyes. what happens if you can't stop the bleeding? >> well, if you couldn't stop it, the situation would quickly get out of hand and the patient would have a major stroke or die. >> carole's burst aneurysm is a surprising twist for the seasoned neurosurgeon, but relying on his experience and a small clamp, he manages to stop the bleeding in exactly 56 seconds. >> irrigation. >> incredibly, dr. bailes has saved carole maxson's life. >> i got the vessel blocked off. the aneurysm is sealed off. can you believe that? it had a very thin part right

there that -- did you see it? >> carole maxson was closer than dr. bailes originally thought to suffering a fatal catastrophe. >> a rupture like that during surgery of the brain is a difficult thing to handle, so -- hopefully we did. i think we did. >> juggling tasks is part of the task of chief of neuro surgery, so, juggling his five children comes naturally to dr. bailes. >> daddy! >> give me a kiss. >> what's harder -- being a brain surgeon or being a dad? >> i don't know. they're equally as challenging. melanie, put her down. stop hitting each other. stop slapping, girls. i'm married to a former nurse who understands the challenges, particularly with the long hours that are fairly routine. >> daddy always wants to be there. because he works really hard to

get home in time, before the sun goes down so he can play basketball in the driveway. >> i got to find my groove. see? imagine how many i would make if i practiced all day. nice one. well, i think that having a family and then trying to be an integral part of that is my greatest accomplishment. >> it's the whole package -- brain surgery by day, clean my kitchen by night. >> good morning. you look beautiful, maybe more beautiful than before. >> oh, aren't you a charmer? isn't he a charmer? >> listen, you did great. that aneurysm was really a dangerous one -- much more than i thought. just working around was enough to make it bleed. >> i figured it was that way, because i was getting more and more pain every day. >> yeah. >> good morning. how are you doing this morning?

>> a little bit sore. >> that's to be expected. >> i don't know if i want my daughter to see me this way. >> 6-year-old mychaela has witnessed many of her mom's seizures, but kristy tries to mask how serious her problem is from her daughter. she will remain under 24-hour surveillance in the epilepsy monitoring center until she actually has several seizures indicating the precise location they're coming from. >> hey, kristy! you're all right. >> yeah, and maybe one more later. but it's not labeled. this is the head-turning, head jerking, then. >> kristy? kristy? >> this one. >> hey, kristy. tell me where you're at. >> dr. adriana palade and the epilepsy team record the activity of kristy's brain, and they assess and map her seizures as they happen. >> and the same head turning this way. >> after two weeks of monitoring, doctors have enough

information to recommend surgery. >> hello. >> hello. >> how are you? >> okay, how are you? >> hey, kristy. hi. here, we're right at the temporal lobe. here, if you see this right here, this shouldn't be there. we think that seizures may come from here, and it's the portions of the brain that will come out, leaving the hippocampus, where the memory stays will be left behind. how does that sound to you? >> there's always risk. and just the thought of cutting out part of her brain -- the part that holds so much of her memory, is too much for kristy macdonald. >> that's a very high-stakes place that the dominant temporal lobe, where your speech and language is located. if you can't speak or understand, for most people, life is not worth living. >> how concerned were you about -- about kristy's memory? >> well, we were -- we were very concerned. >> the memories that matter the most, the ones she's so fearful

might be lost, are the memories of her little girl. >> it's not going to affect my memory? >> no, no. >> we think it's safe from our testing to take out her amygdala. we are going to leave her hippocampus alone. she doesn't want to lose memory. she doesn't want -- >> at this teaching hospital, so much of dr. bailes' work revolves around his being a mentor to neurosurgeons-in-training. >> dr. sedney will go over the forms. we'll sign everything so we'll be done. >> dr. cara sedney is a third-year neurosurgical resident -- one of six residents in the program. >> she's a marvelous physician and is going to be a great neurosurgeon. and we need more women neurosurgeons. and she's going to be one of the best. >> getting bad news about something that's like a brain problem is way scarier than having a broken leg or something like that. because your brain really controls the basic functions that makes us people and makes us us.

the patients are really special, they're really, like, vulnerable. and just have something like that happen, but we can fix it, and that's kind of nice. >> you just have to get through this part and this is the worst part. >> god, i'm scared to do anything. >> it's not by yourself. >> it's the moment of truth. she will go forward. but after it's over, just what will she remember? ♪ [ inhales deeply ] ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] lighting a glade scented candle can change your whole day. [ clapping ] oh! [ both chuckle ] thank you. [ female announcer ] release the magic with limited-edition cashmere woods from glade. s.c. johnson. a family company. [ animals calling ]m glade. ♪ [ pop ] [ man ] ♪ well, we get along

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a young mother agrees to surgery to cut out part of her brain. >> maybe i'll be able to get my life back. >> but will the procedure wipe away all her memories? >> i can't lose anything about my daughter. my daughter's the most important thing to me. >> will kristy still know 6-year-old mychaela when she wakes up? when "secrets of your mind" continues after this from our

if i go on a date with a guy, i don't usually tell him i am a neurosurgeon. they just get intimidated, i guess. actually, you know, what though my friend scumi and i went to croatia and would tell guys we were doctors, that i was a neurosurgeon. they didn't believe me actually. i would even describe the surgeries and whatever, they didn't even believe me. so, i don't -- i don't know. maybe it doesn't matter. >> this child had not just a ridge, not just flatness, but also -- >> today, neurosurgical resident dr. cara sedney is about to assist in a surgery on a 3-month-old baby. >> you kind of reshape the forehead a little bit to make less abnormal.

for this one, it will go all the way down to the eyes and reshape the eye bones and the forehead and everything. it's really cool. >> being a pediatric neurosurgeon i think is one of the greatest challenges and hardest jobs there could be. because not only do you have this newborn, you have two additional patients in a way. you have the parents. ♪ rock a baby ♪ on the tree top >> it was a dream come true for dennis and cassandra edwards. just before christmas last year, the successful adoption of twin boys. >> we were looking for a newborn because we weren't able to have any kids of our own and this kind of just fell into place. >> but one of their twin newborn boys was facing a grave problem. >> they kind of informed us that payton here had some medical issues. >> at just 3 months old, baby peyton's brain has no room to grow because of a fused brow bone. head of pediatric neurosurgery, dr. john collins, will lead this operation.

>> a baby's head bones are in separate plates. but there's a little space in between. in this child, the bone is completely fused together across the forehead, and that's what creates the deformity. >> the easy parts of the bone right here, when it gets down around the eyes, i let him do it. it's kind of scary. he uses this big, like, drill, like this that goes like this and right next to the eyeball so it kind of freaks me out. >> a baby's brain doubles in size during the first year of life, so if not fixed right away, his expanding brain cannot grow. >> if you look at his brother and you look at peyton, you can tell, you know, his brother has more of a rounded forehead, versus, his is pointy. >> it is a congenital deformity called craniosyntosis, affecting 1 in 2,000 babies. and if left untreated, can lead to severe developmental delays.

>> we are getting closer, buddy. >> okay, buddy? you are just so cute. >> once you go to sleep, you'll forget all about it. >> there's probably nothing to me more daunting, as a father myself, than considering, you know, passing on your child for someone else to operate on their brain. >> kristy macdonald, the young mother battling epilepsy, is about to undergo a surgery to remove parts of her brain that doctors believe are causing seizures. >> no, they had to hook me up to everything. >> her mother and twin sister misty are at kristy's side. >> how can you take out the seat of memory, in me or you, or the seat of emotions -- the amygdala, spiritual wallty, symbolism, that kind of thing. how can you take out this precious part of the brain and not lose those functions? >> well, because, amazingly, the

human brain has redundancy, and the area that's removed is an area that's not working right. >> to me, you don't look nervous at all. >> maybe i will be able to get my life back. being able not bother people to take me here and there. >> you are not a bother. >> yes, i am. >> no, you're not. >> yes, i am. >> no, you're not. it's okay. it's okay. >> and the concern is memory loss. >> right. and they say it's not going to affect my memory. >> you'd rather deal with what you deal with than lose any memory. >> because i got my baby to worry about. >> so, you're doing this for her, really. >> she's my top priority. >> i think she wanted to be restored as closely as she could to being normal, not just for her sake, but for the sake of her daughter. >> good morning! all excited? >> trying not to think about it, to be hoppest. >> i'm excited.

>> you're excited because you get to work. >> well, i'm excited because this is the only thing i know how to do is operate. >> you get nervous at all? >> nervous about what? >> about taking parts of a person's brain out. >> it's never fun in a way to take out a part of the brain, but in epilepsy, we think there are some parts that aren't working right, parts that are generating the seizure. so that part needs to go. >> and you are certain that it can be removed safely for kristy? >> we are certain as we can be. >> it's like saying good-bye, and she might not know who you are when she wakes up. she's in god's hands, so what happens happens and we'll learn to deal with it. >> so our scalp incision will be like this right here. only water. this is the temporal lobe, here, and here's a big vein

right here. >> the vein that supplies the entire left side of kristy's brain is in the way. it's exactly where dr. bailes plans to cut. >> this is going to be hard. i mean, look at it. >> i don't think you can take it. >> this vein, if taken by the surgeon, could have, perhaps, led her to be unable to speak again or unable to understand the spoken or written words. we're limited, i think, by this big vein, which may control her speech. so i want to preserve this. i don't feel comfortable taking that vein. >> dr. bailes puzzles how he will handle this obstacle. >> so what do you think, to get to that amygdala? >> meanwhile, kristy's family anxiously awaits word. >> we're going on four hours. >> we're all just frazzled. >> if i talk to her and she knows who i am, i will be happy. very happy. [ female announcer ] food myth #9.

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it's really weird working on a baby. the first time i cut on a baby's head i almost got a little sick, like, just weird. i didn't throw up or anything, but i definitely got a little queasy. >> 3-month-old baby peyton edwards is having a procedure on his skull to give his brain room to grow. >> when we do this incision, would you call the mom and let her know we're starting? >> yes, sir. this is mary. i just wanted to let you know we are making incisions. >> there's something psychologically different between operating on an adult and operating on this tiny baby. everything is small and the skin is thin and they're tiny. >> you're working on a small structure. you're working on a developing,

miniature brain in a way. and so there are technical challenges. >> the biggest concern in a baby this age is blood loss. he can potentially lose a lot of blood, and they don't have that many -- that much blood when they're only 3 months old. so we are really meticulous about that. >> merchant of venice surgery. pound of flesh, not an ounce of blood. >> brain surgery on babies carries a special danger. an infant can lose only four tablespoons of blood. after that, it's life or death. >> they're not just miniaturized adults. they are their own unique problem. we have to be extremely more careful about blood loss. let's catch up and stop the bleeding up here. let's go ahead and weigh our sponges and find where we are after the skin opening. >> by weighing the saturated gauze pads, doctors know how much blood is lost every step of the way. >> dr. collins, you have 50 grams. >> okay, so 50 ccs of blood, right? there's a gram per cc, right? 50 ccs of blood loss so far.

this is where it really starts to get a little more dicey. baby peyton is dangerously close to losing the maximum allowable four tablespoons of blood. >> we have three tablespoons of blood loss so we need to have blood in the room at this point. how long will it be before they have blood? maybe i should wait until they have blood in the room. >> i can call them. >> we're going to wait until we have blood in the room. >> about five minutes, dr. collins. >> okay, we're just going to draw pictures. >> doctors will wait to continue surgery until blood is ready for baby peyton. >> got to stay rock stable. >> the classic neurosurgeon thing is that you are calm under pressure, and there's not like any kind of emergency that will make you flip out. and it's mostly because you have seen, whatever it is you have seen something worse, that's what it is. so -- i don't know. i don't really think of anything as an emergency anymore. i just take care of it.

>> so we're just still kind of outlining where we think it's safe and what part we want to take out. >> now, nearly four hours into kristy macdonald's epilepsy surgery, dr. bailes is still looking for the best pathway to the parts of her brain he plans to remove. >> this is sort of like going through a bowl of jell-o with some veins and arteries in it. i had to go to plan "b" and change my trajectory and my extent of removal. >> dr. bailes has found a way around the vein to get to the parts of kristy's brain that he wants to take out. >> we had to modify our approach a little bit. but i think we got the anterior part of the item p tempora lobee amygdala, the important part, out. you never know right away. it's not like fixing a fracture. the patient wakes up here we maybe won't know how our patient is.

>> so the cat scan looked good. i looked at it again. i think -- >> nice. looked good. >> i didn't want to take it out, because that's very -- >> looks great. >> thanks. >> all right. >> how you doing? >> an hour after surgery is over, kristy is waking up. a moment of truth. doctors get a first look at critical responses. >> stick out your tongue. show me your thumbs like this. good, can you wiggle your toes? >> what is this right here? right, flashlight. what's your last name? >> macdonald. >> macdonald, good. you're all done. >> i actually had no idea i wanted to do surgery. i thought surgery was kind of -- surgeons were mean and stuff like that, so i didn't think i wanted to do it. and then i did a neurosurgery

rotation and i just loved it. >> when dr. sedney finishes her training, she will be joining elite ranks. there are only 189 women neurosurgeons in the entire country. >> one of our residents, the first time he saw something, he was like, oh, my god, you're sticking that into his brain, and i was just like, yeah, that's what we do. it was shocking at first, but you get used to it so -- >> so emergencies like this one, baby peyton losing too much blood, don't faze her. now, with blood ready for a transfusion, the surgery can go forward. >> so, we have a unit of blood here. >> jigsaw puzzle. you got to decide where you are going to cut. we're getting there. that is the eyebrow bone we're going to be fixing. >> the baby's brow bone is literally removed, and it will be put back together in a flatter, more even shape. >> you know, like a carpenter

putting furniture together, little plates and screws, except that it will dissolve away, eventually. go ahead and screw it. >> it's tricky to get the pieces to fit, and that can be stressful. >> oh, geez. okay, try again. we have to -- we have to have it right underneath. >> it's a very important operation in pediatric neurosurgery. it can effect the brain's growth and development. it can be a cosmetic problem. it can effect vision in some cases. >> it's kind of like art, because you are, you know, you take all the bones off and you are reshaping them. it's like sculpture, so i do like it. >> oops. that was too -- >> oh -- >> it fell off. >> i know, but i wanted -- oh, crap. >> and in the end, when you take the drapes down and it's a totally different looking kid, it's pretty neat. >> it's cute now, julie. he wasn't cute before, but now he's cute. he had the potential to be cute. and we have optimized his potential.

>> oh, yay. >> so, i think the surgery went pretty well. they always take a long time, but we had a good result. he looks pretty cute, so, i would definitely call it a success. (birds chirping) like strolling in an orchard ♪ is this my husband? awesome cool hat, mom oh my perfect kids alright fourteen ninety nine i totally wear hats ♪ picnic empty handed.can't show up at a labor day but here at the final days of the ford model year end sales event, these folks are taking it up a notch. those guys are bringing some outstanding technology. over here, amazing fuel efficiency. behind me, that guy's bringing quality that can't be beat by honda or toyota. me, i'm bringing cole slaw. hurry in to the final days of the ford model year end

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you are so swollen. you look so cute. "what in the world did mommy and daddy do to me?" >> for the anxious parents of 3-month-old baby peyton, this moment is like meeting him for

the first time. >> he's a trooper. >> he has just come through a grueling six-hour reconstruction of his tiny forehead. when you see somebody like this, it's like, oh, my golly, but he'll be fine. so, that's tears of joy, to actually be able to see him and know that he's okay. go back to feeling like bunky in a couple of days, yeah. you will. >> you just worry about him being so small and going through a major surgery. we knew, you know, it's the best thing to do for him there was never any doubt. >> most mornings for dr. bailes begin with checking in on his patients. >> breakfast and lunch. >> it's been 36 hours since he removed parts of are kristy macdonald's brain. >> at first, kristy didn't want her daughter, mychaela, to see her so vulnerable, but she's ready for a visit from her little girl.

>> i'll fix it. >> mychaela can probably handle it. after all, the 6-year-old is used to taking care of her mommy. and maybe she knows, in some ways, she's probably her mother's best medicine. >> good morning. wow, that's progress. a little smile, too? a little small smile. she's not happy with me yet. is the pain medicine helping? it's only been about 36 hours. >> she's got a lot of color. >> yeah, you look great. how do you think your memory is? >> yeah, i do. >> that was our main concern, wasn't it.? okay, you're welcome. >> appreciate it. >> you're welcome. i think it was the right decision and you're going to have a lot of benefit from it. >> what does the future hold for her do you think? >> well, we just don't know yet. you take your best educated prediction of where you can

believe the seizure's originating and where you can safely remove, and so far, she's doing well. >> hi. >> tell him what your name is. >> mychaela. >> your mommy's doing great. >> thank you. >> thank you, doctor. >> you're welcome. the things that you may see me do in surgery, i didn't invent. we have a saying that, you know, if we can see a great distance, it's only because we stand on the shoulders of giants, and that's the way we feel about the ones who came before us, and taught us. of course, we always try to give credit to our patients who allow us to continue to work on them and learn in that process. >> baby peyton edwards is busy trying to keep up with his twin brother, patrick, just two months after surgery. for the time being, peyton must wear a special helmet to help mold his skull.

>> yeah, there it goes. yeah. >> peyton is here. >> so nice to see you, thank you for coming back and seeing me again. you're looking good. measure around. there's a little bit of the, i call them the lumpy bumpies. as his skill will throe thicker over time, it will just swallow it up. >> i am very impressed. i don't know that i expected healing to happen that quickly. after surgery. i see he is more active. next to his brother he mimics what brother does. >> it's definitely given us joy and hope. he's going to grow to be a normal healthy boy and do everything that a little boy should be doing. >> two months after surgery, kristy macdonald is back home with her daughter. >> just told her, mommy's okay. so, you don't have to worry about mommy no more. mommy got help. mommy's fixed now. >> but the emotions still run high for what could have been taken away.

>> i was scared to death that i'd forget my daughter. and i didn't want to do that. i'm all she has. >> and these days, mychaela has all of her mommy back. kristy, so far, is seizure-free. [ sniffs ]

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it was like they knew my body. they knew what my -- how my body was reacting to everything. ugh, i think it's getting a little bit worse. i feel like i'm going to vomit. >> okay -- >> how about now? >> i'm better. >> we are with her every step of the way. that's next week on tuesday at 10:00, 9:00 central. after take off. pass passion.