Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Awareness Week 2013 : day 2 - The Treatment I Have Had For Hydrocephalus So Far In My Life

The treatment I had for hydrocephalus started when I was two weeks old and diagnosed with it. The diagnosis wasn't picked up before then as my mum didn't have scans, and the doctors had to stabilise me in terms of my breathing problems, jaundice and other infections, as I was severely ill. The very first operation they did was an emergency operation to insert what is known as a Rickham Reservoir, which is a tube inserted into the spine or brain to drain off excess cerebrospinal fluid. I was extremely ill during the operation so it had to be abandoned. A Rickham reservoir is not as permanent as a shunt , and is inserted to drain fluid, and measure intracranial pressure ( pressure inside the skull and brain). 

Before any operation was done, I had to have lots of blood transfusions  and lumbar punctures (spinal taps) . A lumbar puncture is where a sample of cerebrospinal fluid is taken from the area surrounding the spinal cord, to relieve pressure on the brain and spine.  It is also taken to test if the fluid shows infection in the area of the brain or spine . If it's clear there's no problem , but if it's yellow, or brown (like mime was) there's a serious problem . 

After that, I had my first  ventriculoperitoneal ( VP )  shunt inserted at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. A shunt is a device that goes from my brain to my abdomen to drain of the excess cerebrospinal fluid from my brain and spine to my abdomen, where it's absorbed into my bloodstream. There is also a shunt known as a VA shunt which goes into the heart , but my heart was too weak to put in that type of shunt. 

When I was six years old, I had to have my shunt replaced at The Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford as there was a fracture in the tubing in my neck. When I was eight, there was a buildup of cerebrospinal  fluid in my spine which had to be drained off. When I was 11 my shunt had to be replaced again. Since then I have had to have shunt replacements, and have had the shunt I have now for 20 years. I have also had several intracranial pressure monitors inserted, last of which was it when I was 11 and it was inserted for 24 hours to monitor the pressure inside my brain. 

Here are pictures of A) a Rickham Reservoir

B)  a VP ahunt and  C) an Intracranial Pressure Monitor  (ICP monitor) .  All the operations I had were long , complicated brain surgeries , and I have scars on my skull , chest and abdomen.  The recovery was long and difficult. 

In the next post I'll talk to you about what the terms shunt "failure" "fracture " and " blockage" mean and the symptoms of hydrocephalus I had. 

A

B 

C