Today Niamh had her shunt fitted. It was an early start, we were at the hospital for 7.30am. Niamh had a general anaesthetic at about 12 and she came back onto the ward at about 3pm. She is on antibiotics Gentamicin and Vancomycin to avoid infection (3 doses of each).
The shunt Niamh has fitted is a subdural–peritoneal shunt and it is valveless. The idea is to reduce the size of the collections of fluid above the brain. Immediately after surgery the bump Niamh had on her head had pretty much disappeared.
She was pretty sleepy after surgery but has had a couple of hours awake time watching dvds. We've had a few smiles and some cheekiness. Where the shunt catheter has been tunnelled under the skin will be painful for a while. Niamh is also supposed to stay lying down for a couple of days which is OK for now as that's all she fancies anyway.
She should be having a follow up scan shortly (don't know if it is MRI or CT) to see if the shunt is doing its job correctly.
Niamh's consultant oncologist let us know that the results of Niamh's kidney test were fine. He also confirmed the results of Monday's MRI scan following the official report.
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