Friday 7 August 2009

We had our appointment with the paediatrician, Dr Des, at 3.30pm. He was great. As we were sitting in the waiting room to see him I overheard his receptionist talking on the phone and was saying he was going away on holiday overseas for a month. I was groaning inwards because I was concerned that any review of Katriona was going to be long and drawn out if that was the case. As it turns out, Dr Des had taken Katriona on because he was worried that if he didn't that no one else may be able to see her and she wouldn't get treatment in an appropriate time frame. He had already read the report from the ultrasound and as he put it "had taken the liberty of organising an appointment with a paediatric neurosurgeon for Tuesday next week." His efficiency was both reassuring and alarming; reassuring that she was getting treated but alarming that it was now apparent that this really WAS serious.

Dr Des thoroughly examined Katriona and pronounced her to be in great health - except for the hydrocephalus.

He explained that Katriona had increased fluid in the first and second ventricles and normal fluid amounts in the third and fourth ventricles indicating that the problem lay between the second and third ventricles; the Cerebral Aquaduct. He told us that to fix Katriona it basically was a choice of surgery or ... erm, death! A no brainer really.

I had done some net surfing on Katriona's condition and had thought that everything I read was 'worst case'. I had assumed that the doctors would prescribe some sort of magic dilating drug that would dilate the narrowed tubes of her brain. I also thought that maybe they put those mechanical dilators in that you see for blocked arteries. But no, it seems that a Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt is pretty much what they do. And much to my horror I realised it was a lifetime solution. It isn't something they put in and take out in a week. It stays there. Forever. It needs to be replaced several times in her lifetime. I honestly didn't know how to react. Was this good news? Was this bad news? All I could think was that at least this is a routine surgery. Cancer, which could have been the cause of the hydrocephalus, would have been an unknown; what sort of tumour, where is it, is it malignant, is it's removal going to harm her etc etc Compared to a tumour, a narrowing of the Cerebral Aquaduct seemed not so bad. In the scheme of things. If you know what I mean.

Hydrocephalus

Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt