Hydrocephalus

[livingwith]

My son, now three years old, was born as a 26 week preemie and weighed only 2 lbs 5 oz. Among other things (brain bleeds, ROP, apnea, bradycardia,etc) he was diagnosed with hydrocephalus. You can imagine my fear when the neurosurgeon carted my little 3 1/2 week old preemie to surgery for shunt placement. The shunt is a plastic ‘valve’ (more or less) that regulates the CSF fluid in the brain. It has a long plastic (small) tube that is attached that allows this fluid to drain down...Read the full article

[raven55]

This is an excellent story. I just left the hospital visiting my preemie great granddaughter and meeting with the neurosurgeon who informed us that our little angel needs a shunt due to excess cranial fluid. My heart sank to my stomach and tears flowed from her 18 year old mother's eyes at the news of surgery on a baby that came in at 1lb.10oz. She is now 4lb10ozs but is still very small and frail. We need to make a decision within the next two weeks about the shunt surgery. We are frightened and worried that she will have mental and physical challenges as a result of the surgery. This story gives us hope that our little angel could survive this ordeal and grow up to be a normal child.