You will notice my changed profile pic for the month of September: OBVIOUSLY this is up there for my miracle son, Trenton.....born 12 weeks too early and because of brain bleeding acquired hydrocephalus. Today starts awareness month for hydrocephalus. I just want to take a minute to explain to everyone what it is. And why we will continue to fight to put an end to the awful challenges of hydrocephalus, and hopefully some sort of cure one day. For those of you who do not know THE DEFINITION IS Hydrocephalus: a condition in which fluid accumulates in the brain, typically in young children, enlarging the head and sometimes causing brain damage. What are the different types of hydrocephalus? Hydrocephalus may be congenital or acquired. Congenital hydrocephalus is present at birth and may be caused by either events or influences that occur during fetal development, or genetic abnormalities. Acquired hydrocephalus develops at the time of birth or at some point afterward (ie. Trenton). This type of hydrocephalus can affect individuals of all ages and may be caused by injury or disease. There are several other types of hydro....caused by a cyst on the brain, brain injury, tumors on the brain, stroke, infection. Hydrocephalus is most often treated by surgically inserting a shunt system. This system diverts the flow of CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) from the CNS to another area of the body where it can be absorbed as part of the normal circulatory process. A shunt is a flexible but sturdy plastic tube. A shunt system consists of the shunt, a catheter, and a valve. One end of the catheter is placed within a ventricle inside the brain or in the CSF outside the spinal cord. The other end of the catheter is commonly placed within the abdominal cavity, but may also be placed at other sites in the body such as a chamber of the heart or areas around the lung where the CSF can drain and be absorbed. A valve located along the catheter maintains one-way flow and regulates the rate of CSF flow. (Trenton has over 2 feet of tubing in his abdominal cavity). There is always a risk of infection,clogging of the catheter, malfunctioning of the pump, ect. Headaches like crazy, vertigo, ect. Some go 10 years or more with the same shunt and no revisions(what they call any surgery to fix or replace the shunt). But some hydro patients I have met spend most of their days on a hospital. 22 brain surgeries in one month? I cant even imagine! Trenton has had 2 so far and thats 2 too many but I feel blessed when I hear about other Hydro kids going to for their 10th or 20th revision. I hate that he has to live with this forever! Thanks to Emmalee Kelmar for writing this out! So I will continue to walk every year, do my best to bring in the donations for research on this awful condition, and advocate for my son and his hydro friends!!!
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 22:21:08 +0000
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