Hydrocephalus

[livingwith]

I gave birth to my son on 7-7-06 , he was 16 weeks premature , he was 1lb 4oz ,and was of course diagnosed with several problems including hydrocepalus, they decided to keep an eye on it, and about 5 1/2 later was released home , but soon after retured to to hospital, that’s when they placed the VP shunt.
Now at one years old he is doing well, but, we are now concered about his well being of what problems that could accure with having the shunt, he is delayed with a lot of motion issue, l...Read the full article

[scm1982]

To the mother of "Thank you for giving my family hope" - I will share some of my story of
my son who has hydrocephalus. He was born premature in 1982, 6 weeks early, and weighed
2 lbs. 13 oz. He was diagnosed pretty soon after birth, and the doctors waited until he was
closer to 5 lbs to place the vp shunt. Allow me to remind you - yes, there is hope for your
son to live a long happy life. My husband and I have been through all the normal ups and
downs, and seems like mostly downs, but he is still alive and soon will be celebrating his
25th birthday. His eyes were also turned inward at birth, but he had to wait until he was
like 2 and half yrs old to have corrective eye surgery. He is legally blind, can see a bit out
of the left eye. He does have slow and poor motor skills, but he is very intelligent and he
does walk and talk. He has had multiple shunt revisions, due to infections, the shunt itself
stops working as it should, etc. But each and every time he has done really well with the
surgeries and came bouncing back. Each person's hydrocephalus is different and unique in
some ways, but I would be lying to you to say hey, you are going to have perfectly smooth
sailing through his life. The main thing to remember, watch his headaches as he gets older,
and above all, when he enters school, you MUST stay on top of things with his getting the
best and proper education. There are very few educators that are really trained and/or
understand hydrocephalus and how it affects the patient.

Just want to wish you the best of luck with your son, keep him with good neurosurgeons,
and you will be taught patience. He may have his challenges ahead of him, then again,
he may not have hardly any at all, but always be there to love him and reassure him.

God bless !

Sandra