TODAY'S Shunt Surgery

Today Erik had his shunt put in. I am so glad that today is over.

He has a incision in his abdomen under his belly button and another in his back on his spine (around the same height). The neurosurgeon team put a small tube (not a vein) in his dura, which surrounds his spine and holds in CSF (the same 'dura' that surrounds is brain). They wove the tube (shunt) under his skin on the right side of his body and attached it to a cavity in his abdomen. This tube drains CSF from his dura at his spine to his abdomen which will naturally absorb into his body. The purpose of this is to relieve the pressure in Erik's brain. With less pressure, it will give the tear in his dura at his brain time to heal. The shunt works on a gravity type system. When he stands up it drains, when laying it does not. He will have headaches because of the shunt, this means that it is working. They should not be migraine headaches, but a slight headache instead. Erik now knows what it feels like to have your stomach cut into - it hurts: and I along with a lot of other ladies can vouch for that. I keep trying to remind him that his muscles will grow back together - it just takes time.

Erik's surgery was short, only 1/2 hour and I saw him 2 hours after it was over. The Doc's said that everything went great. He was funny in the recovery room coming off of the anesthesia. He was talking and cracking jokes, even to other patients in the recovery room. We went into the hospital at 6am and got released at 5pm, so it was a long day. The drive home was NOT fun, but it is now over and Erik is sleeping on the couch heavily medicated.

I am winding down and trying to stay cool. Whew. As far as we can tell, Erik wont be having surgery anytime soon, the next time maybe 5 months down the road for his Eye. The neurosurgeon thinks that Erik may be able to get his eye fixed by an optical surgeon instead of himself. This would be much less invasive and his head would not need to be opened up again. He said that it has something to do with lengthing and shortening the muscles that attach the eye. This sounds much better then the alternative, taking his brain out and fixing the optic roof. Once again I am getting ahead of myself...one day at a time.