[Magdalen] Shunt Surgery

[Jay Weigel]

Good heavens, Christopher, sounds like a horrific day! Prayers that all
goes well with Lisa from now through the procedure, and prayers for Lisa
and all those who care for her. And for you, of course...which goes without
saying and almost went unsaid!

On Mon, Dec 4, 2017 at 9:07 AM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com> wrote:

> Christopher - prayers rising for you and Lisa as you continue to move
> through this challenging medical procedure... and prayers for all of the
> medical staff who are part of the care giving.
>
> Sending hugs and love eastwardly this morning.
> Lynn
>
> website: www.ichthysdesigns.com
>
> When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not
> a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me."
> attributed to Erma Bombeck
>
> "Mercy and compassion are more than personal options. They are the
> antidotes to that fear and hatred." Mark Singel
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Christopher Hart" <cervus51 at gmail.com>
> Sent: Monday, December 04, 2017 8:01 AM
> To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
> Subject: [Magdalen] Shunt Surgery
>
>
> Dear Pub Friends,
>>
>> My wife, Lisa, was born with hydrocephalus and has had since childhood a
>> shunt to relieve the excess fluid in her brain. Like many medical devices
>> shunts can and do wear out and time also finds the medical community
>> making
>> improvements in treatment. About three weeks ago her neurosurgeon placed a
>> new type of programmable valve into her existing shunt to enable better
>> control of her fluid which was draining too much. This sort of valve did
>> not exist when she had her last shunt implanted. The valve was placed into
>> her abdomen near a rib to avoid surgery at or near her head.
>> Unfortunately,
>> it became disconnected from the tubing and she was leaking cerebro-spinal
>> fluid through the incision at an alarming rate. I took her to the
>> emergency
>> room yesterday when I suspected what was happening and the neurosurgeon
>> who
>> examined her (her surgeon's associate) confirmed my layman's suspicion.
>>
>> ​The upshot of this is that she now has her shunt connected to an external
>> ventricular device to control and monitor the flow and will be ​having a
>> whole new shunt installed tomorrow if all goes as planned. This is pretty
>> major surgery, but she has a very good surgeon so we have high hopes for
>> the outcome. If all is well she may come home as soon as Wednesday, but
>> will no doubt have a significant period of recovery to follow. Your
>> prayers
>> and good wishes are, of course, welcome and desired, both for her and for
>> me as I deal with everything. After eleven hours in or around the ER and
>> then ICU (following transfer from one hospital to another) I'm happy to
>> say
>> that I did not reach for a drink which certainly would have been my
>> default
>> action in the past.
>> --
>>
>> Christopher Hart
>>
>> List Mail Address: cervus51 at gmail.com
>> Personal Mail: cervus at veritasliberat.net
>> Twitter: @cervus51
>>
>
>