December 20 2012

Helen has left Basingstoke by ambulance and her operation is at 3 this afternoon. Hopefully everything will go well and she will be back to Basingstoke in a few days. I will phone later and will try to pop down to Southampton and see her tonight. If not, I'll go down tomorrow.

Phoned Southampton hospital and for some reason they have delayed the operation until tomorrow She transferred fine, is settled in and has now got her feed back on. Only bummer is that she is back on sliding scale - they put her on it for the journey. She is no worse than she was. It's just another delay and another wait for us. I hate it that time is creeping towards Christmas and her birthday.

Helen is more alert today.  Her eyes are open and slighty following. I spoke with Dr Duffill, a Neuro Surgeon at Southampton.
 
Helen's head will have distinct dip in after operation. She should never have had a rounded head from the start.  They queried whether she had too much fluid from outset and should have been fitted with a shunt sooner.

Lumbar puncture is to be taken today to check for any white cells and signs of infection.  If she has an infection, then an internal shunt cannot be fitted because it will become infected and have to be removed.  External tap will be fitted instead to allow CSF to be drained off. If there are no signs of infection, the shunt can go ahead. They will shave little bit of hair behind ear, drill a hole, insert the shunt and feed the drain down into the peritoneal cavity in the tummy.

What is a shunt?

Hopefully return to Basingstoke this weekend.

Skull replacement options discussed are:

Helen return to JR for operation
Skull transferred sterile to Southampton for replacement
Titanium plate put in.

Decision will be made after shunt is working effectively.


VP Shunt



Helen's Hope: December 20 2012

Thursday 20 December 2012

December 20 2012

Helen has left Basingstoke by ambulance and her operation is at 3 this afternoon. Hopefully everything will go well and she will be back to Basingstoke in a few days. I will phone later and will try to pop down to Southampton and see her tonight. If not, I'll go down tomorrow.

Phoned Southampton hospital and for some reason they have delayed the operation until tomorrow She transferred fine, is settled in and has now got her feed back on. Only bummer is that she is back on sliding scale - they put her on it for the journey. She is no worse than she was. It's just another delay and another wait for us. I hate it that time is creeping towards Christmas and her birthday.

Helen is more alert today.  Her eyes are open and slighty following. I spoke with Dr Duffill, a Neuro Surgeon at Southampton.
 
Helen's head will have distinct dip in after operation. She should never have had a rounded head from the start.  They queried whether she had too much fluid from outset and should have been fitted with a shunt sooner.

Lumbar puncture is to be taken today to check for any white cells and signs of infection.  If she has an infection, then an internal shunt cannot be fitted because it will become infected and have to be removed.  External tap will be fitted instead to allow CSF to be drained off. If there are no signs of infection, the shunt can go ahead. They will shave little bit of hair behind ear, drill a hole, insert the shunt and feed the drain down into the peritoneal cavity in the tummy.


Hopefully return to Basingstoke this weekend.

Skull replacement options discussed are:

Helen return to JR for operation
Skull transferred sterile to Southampton for replacement
Titanium plate put in.

Decision will be made after shunt is working effectively.


VP Shunt



0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home