Brain Surgery

Two days after he was born, Nicholas was scheduled for his shunt placement. The neurosurgeon and his student came to my room before the surgery and made sure that I was aware of what would be happening.

To place the shunt, the neurosurgeon would go in through Nicholas's soft spot, place the shunt on the right side of his head, and then thread the catheter between the skull and skin behind his ear, down through his chest and end up floating in the abdominal cavity. The shunt was set for a certain pressure (started at 100 - which is fairly high), and would drain any cerebral spinal fluid that caused his brain to be above the set pressure and dump the extra fluid into his abdominal cavity where it would be absorbed by his intestines and urinated out. 

The neurosurgeon told us, as long as there where no complications, the surgery would be about 15 minutes. Nicholas would be intubated for up to three days depending on his recovery process. Mike and Zachary went to walk with Nicholas to the operating room and would be there when he got out. I could have been wheeled there too, but having Emily with me meant I should stay in my room with her. 

I don't remember just how much time passed, but eventually the neurosurgeon and his student reappeared in my room. They let us know the surgery was done and Nicholas had done very well. Now we had to wait and see if the surgery would do what we needed it to.