A Surgeon's Work is Never Done!

I went down to visit Kathy with Alecia and watched her go through her different rehabilitation classes. Kathy was especially alert and operational today and went through her classes with verve. The buzz in the hospital was that Kathy was talking much more and was actually hitting the call button and asking for assistance. Everyone was pretty up about her rehabilitation progress this week!

I did have another medical conversation with Dr. Jahan this morning. He commented that he wanted me to call Dr. Kureshi office about Kathy’s latest CT scan. I called Dr. Kureshi and he was concerned that Kathy’s fluid level was still too high for his comfort. He explained the following: Kathy’s spine produces fluid that flows between the spine and the brain. This fluid flows into her ventricles. The problem is the spine produces it and expunges it also. The valves between her spine and brain are scarred from the infection and do not let enough of the fluid pass back into the spine to be expunged. The fluid builds up and create high pressure in Kathy’s ventricles. This could impede her recovery short and long term. The best way to cure this is to install a permanent PT line from her brain that empties into her stomach. (He was happy about her clinical results from the spinal tap but the fluid level is now back to almost before the tap) This operation would entail a cut into the skin in back of her ear area and he would drill a small hole and install a line and valve from her head to her stomach. He would attach a thin line and run it underneath the skin into the stomach which would automatically at all times drain the excess fluid. This would be a permanent connection for the rest of her life.

What are the ups and downs of this operation? The downs would be the potential for a complication during the surgery. He feels this is minimal. The ups would be Kathy possibly could recover at a greater rate with normal brain pressures. This would allow for a permanent solution to the fluid build up. He has been right ON with Kathy’s care so I asked him if it would be OK to consult with Kathy. I explained the benefits to Kathy and she agreed to go forward. He plans to do the surgery in 10 days or so. This would evolve taking Kathy to Scripps for the day to do the surgery and then transferred her back to Sharp’s afterwards. I will post everyone on the date!