Surgery # 2

We knew after Henry's MM closer surgery that the likely hood that he would develop hydrocephalus (hydro for short) that would need to be controlled by a shunt was about 90%. Before the closer surgery Henry's body was processing cerebrospinal fluid through the opening in his back, once it was closed the excese fluid had no where to go so it started building up around Henry's brain causing the ventricles in his brain to swell.

Each day after Henry's MM closer you could see his head getting a little bigger, a little softer, and you could see he was opening his eyes less and less and eventually the pressure build up was causing Henry to have breathing problems. So they had to put him back on oxygen. It was 10 days after Henry's arrival into this world that his neurosurgeon decided a shunt needed to be installed so I watched them wheel him back into the OR for a second time. I don't care how minor the procedure or how long your child is back in an OR it is still an agonizing feeling when the nurse says "this is where you have to give your hugs an kisses".

During the 2 hour surgery Henry's neurosurgeon placed the shunt in the right lateral ventricle of Henry's brain. Henry has 3 incisions from the installation of a shunt; 2 on his head and one on his belly. The shunt sits in the ventricle and has a mechanism that essentially functions like a dam for the cerebrospinal fluid; the tube continues down the side his head, behind his ear and then eventually ends up in his stomach where the excess cerebrospinal fluid is absorbed by his body.

You could almost instantly see the change in Henry's head once the pressure was under control with the help of the shunt and each day since you can see his head decreasing in size. If I am being honest Henry's shunt makes me extremely nervous, but when you here that 85% of them fail with in the first year I guess you get the right to be nervous. My prayer is that Henry's shunt will work and that a revision isn't needed until he is older and the tube in his belly needs to be longer.

As a mom you hate hearing the words "not if his shunt fails, but when it fails...". But I also know that I can't live in fear of his shunt failing. It would be very easy for me to cling to those words and be hypervigilant in looking for signs that his shunt is failing but if I allow myself to always be looking for what's going to go wrong next I will miss the moments right in front of me. Which I think is true in other aspects of life not just when it comes to my child and his VP Shunt. I know the warning signs, I know what to look for but I need not to worry my days away with every sigh, sound or look he gives me.

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his  span of life? Luke 12:25

-Erin-