More brain surgery needed...

At my Post-Op this week, we expected that my Neurosurgeon would take out my staples and check the incision from my emergency brain surgery. After he took all 14 staples out, he said the incision looked good. Then he checked my shunt valve setting, and it was a bit off - not a good sign.

As expected, we looked at my new CT scans, taken the day after surgery while I was still in the hospital. He didn't have to drill a new hole in my skull or clear a new pathway to the center of my brain where the ventricles are, using the old ones, except he went a little deeper than before into the center of my brain ventricle.

Unfortunately, he told me some things about my surgery that had been hidden from me by EVERYONE. I already knew that they'd been hiding something, as after I woke up I wasn't told much and only got details the following day. My Neurosurgeon & parents agreed to hold off on the bad news until I was slightly more "with it," in less pain, and beginning to recover.

It looks like I will need yet another brain surgery. This one will NOT be a shunt revision, it will be something to monitor the pressure in my skull. I will be hospitalized sometime in the near future for AT LEAST half a week.

After that, I'll still need my FULL WEEK hospitalization at Johns Hopkins, but that's on hold for now - one thing at a time.

As far as the half-week hospitalization, we can't do that until I recover from this last surgery. It'll probably be sometime in the next couple of months - no way to know for sure until we see how I recover. My Neurosurgeon (thankfully) wants to give my body a chance to rest & heal from this last surgery before we move on to the next one.

Anyone who's had multiple surgeries knows it's difficult... but BRAIN surgeries are BY FAR much more complicated because of the logistics of it being in your brain and you have to get over not only the medications & anesthesia, but also the fact that something is being put into your brain and all the things that go along with that.

Depending on what the surgery & related tests show, I may need a second shunt put it. That shunt could be another VP shunt (going from head to abdomen) or it could be one that goes from head to heart, although we know it will not be one that goes from spine to abdomen. We'll just have to take each step as it comes and decisions will be made based on how I'm doing and what the tests, scans, and surgeries show.

It's times like this that I am SOOOOO thankful that I will NEVER need a Spinal Tap again! Getting Spinal Taps repeatedly is EXTREMELY dangerous, and you really can't use the same exact spot more than once, so eventually you risk serious damage. Although the shunt brings risks & a lifetime of surgeries (usually only once every several years, I'm just a complicated case) it by far outweighs the risks both of Spinal Taps AND of having increased pressure. People don't realize that those two things can be DEADLY, even moreso than the possibly life-threatening problems associated with shunts.

I'm still in TONS of pain - PLEASE pray for pain relief, for healing, and for no further complications. As soon as I get the chance & feel up to it, I'll post my surgery story & some pictures. :-)

Thanks for the prayers.