[Magdalen] Shunt Surgery

[Clarissa Canning]

I add my prayers for all to go well

On Dec 4, 2017 3:26 PM, "Judy Fleener" <fleenerj at gmail.com> wrote:

> Prayers for both of you are being offered at our house.
> Judy
>
> On Mon, Dec 4, 2017 at 4:07 PM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com
> >
> wrote:
>
> > Prayers and good wishes, indeed, as you both deal with the stresses and
> > strains of this situation, and more prayers for Lisa's quick and complete
> > recovery from the procedure.  And a hearty bravo to you for your
> continuing
> > abstinence.
> >
> > Marion, a pilgrim
> >
> >
> >
> > On 12/4/2017 9:01 AM, Christopher Hart wrote:
> >
> >> 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.
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Judy Fleener, ObJN,SSH
> Western Michigan
>