Research

Medical treatment happens over time. My paper will cover the history of diagnosing and treatment of hydrocephalus.

Aschoff, A., P. Kremer, B. Hashemi, and S. Kunze. "The Scientific History of Hydrocephalus and It's Treatment." Neuosurgical Review Oct. 1999: 67-93. Web. .

This article gives the history of when hydrocephalus was first described and how it was treated.



Hydrocephalus History - Search." Timeline Results for Hydrocephalus History. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. .

This article documents the history of hydrocephalus from 1550 to 2010.





Lifshutz, J., and W. Johnson. "History of Hydrocephalus and Its Treatments." Neurosurgical Focus 11.2 (2001). Web. .

This article is about how treatment of hydrocephalus has changed.



Fried, A., and M. Epstein. Childhood Hydrocephalus: Flinical Features, Treatment, and the Slit-Ventricle Syndrome. The Musella Foundation For Brain Tumor Research & Information, Inc. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. .

This article describes the treatment of hydrocephalus and different types of shunts.



United States. National Institute of Health. Ventriculoperitoneal Shunting. By D. Dugdale and D. Hoch. A.D.A.M., Inc., 21 Dec. 2009. Web. .

This article describes the treatment of hydrocephalus.






Photographs:

Najaflan, Alireza. Severe Hydrocephalus. Photograph. Gold Bamboo. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. .

Hydrocephalus. Photograph. Gold Bamboo. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. .

Hydrocephalus Baby Jpg. Photograph. Gold Bamboo. Web. .

Noguez, L. ""Alien Skeleton" Case Solved." Forgetomori. Web. 21 Apr. 2010.

Goals for Living With Hydrocephalus

I have really enjoyed doing this blog. It has given me a chance to find out a lot more about what kinds of things can happen when people go through things with it. Sometimes I have a hard time trying to get things figured out so I can write it. I am hoping I can keep it up after the class is done.

I would like to get some other pictures in it. I have a lot of different ones that I've been looking at. I have a class that I just finished using pictures. I'm going to keep working on that and try to get some of those on the blog.

I have some other topics that I want to get into my blog. I will keep looking at things to try to get more information on it for different topics. I still want to get more things about hydrocephalus. I would like to show more people the blog after the class is done. I have told people about the blog so I would like to make sure they get to see it.

I want to write a book with everything that I've been through in my life. This class has helped me a lot to get things straight so I can work on that. It has gotten a lot easier for me to get words out the way I want to.

Medical Professionals

There are several medical professionals that people with hydrocephalus have to see. If you are diagnosed with hydrocephalus, you will have to see a pediatrician when you are growing up. The pediatrician can help to find out if you're having any problems. Later on, you would have to visit a general physician when you're older. This person will check everything out to make sure you are healthy and everything is checking out.

A lot of times people with hydrocephalus will see a neurologist. That person will watch to see if you are having seizures. They also will watch to see how the body is working. When the neurologist tests for the seizures, they hook you up to an EEG which will determine how your brain waves are working.

You will akso have a neurosurgeon to watch how the shunt is working. They will do surgery to put a shunt in and any revisions if you start having problems. If you have to have surgery, you will have to meet with an anesthesiologist before the surgery, as well. That person will be in the surgery to keep the person asleep during the surgery. If you have local anesthesia, you are still awake but you are numb.

There are physician's assistants and nurses that can meet with you. They can follow your case so they can get things figured out if something's going on. Generally, the nurses and physician's assistants are very knowledgable on hydrocephalus in the department. I meet with the nurses to discuss my medicine pump and I call them first if I start having any sorts of problems.

Sometimes you will have to see occupational and physical therapists. They will find ways for you to be able to do things by yourself. They will come up with exercises to help get your body to work so you can keep the muscles relaxed. There are rehab doctors that can help watch if your having problems.

As you can see, there are several doctors you have to meet with if you are diagnosed with hydroceohalus. It can be frustrating at times but it is also comforting to know that there are so many people there to help you.

Support for Living with Hydrocephalus

Living with hydrocephalus has been challenging. I’ve had to go through so much when trying to figure out about my shunt and if it’s working or not. For example, when I’m not able to eat and my head hurts, my shunt might not be working. If they had better tools to diagnose it, it would be easier to figure out what’s going on. Right now, they don’t have a lot of good tests to tell if there’s something not working. They won’t see me until it’s really bad and a lot of times I end up in the emergency room. The doctors need to have better training to diagnose shunt failure. There needs to be more doctors that can treat shunt failure.

The government makes it hard to get good medical care if you have to cross state lines. You have to go through all the approvals to go out of state. If it’s an emergency you don’t have time to do that. It would help if families could help more without taking away other insurance. The government needs to have funding to do more research into treating hydrocephalus. They also need to have funding for mental health services. It is a common thing for people with disabilities to be depressed or have other problems with emotions.

Shunts are fairly new, so there haven't been a lot of studies on the effects of having shunts. There has been more information on learning problems that a lot of people with hydrocephalus have. The information has not gotten through to schools, so a lot of students do not get the help they need or are not diagnosed correctly. Most kids with hydrocephalus do not meet the criteria to get into special education.

Shunting

When people are diagnosed with hydrocephalus, they put a tube called a shunt in to drain the extra fluid off. They can be in the brain or in the spine. Usually, it drains into the abdomen. It can also drain into the heart, lungs, ureter, or gallbladder. If they find out about it before the person's born, they put the shunt in when they're 2 days old.

A surgical cut is made behind the ear. There is another one in the abdomen. The doctor drills a small hole in the skull. There is a small tube that is put into the ventricle. The other end of the shunt tube is placed in the abdomen.

There are some different types of shunts. There is a Delta valve that helps prevent the shunt from taking too much off. There is a Medium Pressure Cylindrical valve which may lead to uneven drainage from the ventricles. They also have the Nulsen and Spitz valve. This was the first mass produced valve that they used to treat hydrocephalus. This contains two ball-valve units connected with a spring. It does not have an adjustable pressure setting. They can put an Anti-Siphon device in to help so the shunt doesn't take too much off. The Sigma valve operates on a flow-control mechanism. The other valves have a pressure-control system. This can be changed without being programmed or surgically changed.

There are some risks with having shunts placed. There can be bleeding in the brain or brain swelling. The shunt could get infected. There may be an infection in the brain or damage to the brain tissue. The person may also have seizures. The shunt can take too much off. It can also become blocked on either end.

People should not have anything to eat or drink for 6 hours before the surgery. They can have clear liquids up to 4 hours before the surgery. Babies under one year old can have formula, cereal, or baby food until 6 hours before surgery. They also can have clear liquids up to 4 hours before the surgery.

Diagnosing Problems

There are several different tests that they can do to see if somebody is having problems. CT scans show pictures of the brain so they can see if there is any change in the size of the ventricles.

MRIs use magnets to get a picture of the brain. They can see more details of what is happening in the brain. They put you in a tube that's completely closed in to take the pictures. I can't have MRIs any more. The shunts that I have are magnetic and it will change the pressure on my brain.

Sometimes they monitor the intercranial pressure. When they do it in La Crosse, they put the monitor on the outside of the body. With the shunts they put in when I went to Chicago, there's a piece on the shunt that they use to check the pressure. They have a piece that I carry with me that they can get the information downloaded onto a laptop. I also can rub it over the piece on the shunt if I'm having problems and that will show on the laptop, too.

They can do a radioactive isotope to see if the shunt is draining. They inject it into the shunt valve and watch to see if there's any movement. Sometimes it will go through right away. When I've had these done usually there will be no movement. They have me sit up and it goes down right away. If there is no movement at all they know that the shunt is plugged.

They also do x-rays to see if the shunt tube is broken. The pictures will show if there is a problem.

Sometimes physical therapists can do a different test to see how tight the muscles are. They check on the arms and legs to see how everything's working. They have a scale to rate how tight it is. If they can move it without problems it is rated at zero. It can go up to four if it is really tight.

The Music In My Life

I started taking piano lessons the summer before I went into fourth grade. That quickly became a very important release for me when I was having a hard time with emotions. I would sit at the piano and just play. Within a few minutes after I started playing my anger or frustrations would be almost gone.

When I went into fourth grade, I started playing viola. That turned out to be my favorite instrument of them all. I played with the 7th grade in 6th grade. I was in Philharmonic Youth Symphony in 7th grade. That would be a very big part of my life.

When I was in 6th grade, I started playing the French horn. I joined the Jazz Band in 7th grade. Playing that would be my escape for hours. I never sang.

I had a stroke during surgery in the beginning of 8th grade. I woke up with my left side completely paralyzed and I could no longer play any of my instruments. After that, I had to find a way to channel my love for music into a love for singing. The choir director’s husband at Good Shepherd sat by me one day at worship service. He told her to talk to me about joining the choir. I joined the choir the next time it started again. While I was in the hospital, the choir director of my church and her husband often came to visit me. That gave me hope and really helped in my recovery. I look to some of the people I sing with as family. Joan, for instance, has become a very close friend of mine. She has helped me when I start having problems with my shunts and has always been one that I can talk to. We look to each other as sisters. There have been times where she would call me and she'd pick me up, just the two of us, and we'd do lunch or go shopping. She's one person I'm grateful to have in my life and a friendship I truly cherish. I can't believe the support and friends I've mad through this experience.

The first choir director stopped doing that after my first year. They had some college students that did it for a while after that. Everybody liked that a lot. We were able to have a lot of fun with them. After they both graduated, one of their instructors became the choir director. We had a very hard time with the change. She would be getting on us with every little thing. She would be saying, "no, no. It has to be this way," while tapping the beat. It has gotten a lot better, but we still have times that it can get very hard.

Today, I enjoy singing solos. I get things set up for solos every few months. I picked out songs to sing for solos when my Pa Pa and Uncle John died to do in their memory. I enjoy singing and listening to more traditional kinds of music like Whitney Houston. In fact,one of her songs, "One Moment in Time", really fits what I feel.

"I broke my heart
Fought every gain
To taste the sweet
I face the pain
I rise and fall
Yet through it all
This much remains"

This verse sums up really everything for me. When I go through tough times those words just fill my heart. I also like listening to Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, and the Beatles just to name a few.

I bought a keyboard and started taking lessons on that. A friend called me and told me about these keyboards that you can do chords on with one or two fingers. Not long after I bought the keyboard, I was back to having that escape and release from all my frustrations. To this day, I still play quite a bit. I'm looking at possibly doing one of my solos with the keyboard. It just feels so good to be able to have my music back in my life again.