RE: I came home on 8/8 from an all summer nightmare....
by
Just think... on 5/29 I had surgery for a valve revision, and was discharged on 5/30. A month later, on 6/30, I was back in the hospital, after being back at work for 1 week, and the surgeon found enlarged ventricles. I was to be operated on, stayed in the ICU, and was released on 7/9, one day after the surgery, again. I saw my NSG on 7/21, who did a shunt tap, and discovered that there were "microbes" in my CSF equivalent to having meningitis. I was again hospitalized, operated on, both in the "coiled belly" and then in the head several times to remove the shunt, try to place a VT catheter,(which failed on its own) and put back a working VP shunt on the other side of my brain. Four procedures in all, along with antibiotic treatment, drainage of the bad CSF fluid, and pain meds when needed. This is my first time upstairs on the "net" writing to all my friends about this horrific experience. I go back to work in a month and see the surgeon a couple weeks later.