January 7, 2004

This page has just been created for Aidan. He is going to UCSF early tomorrow (leaving home at 4 am with Mom, Dad and baby brother on the four hour drive!) to have his VP shunt externalized. He has had the shunt since infancy, with no problems until last year when he developed a large cyst in his abdomen. It is not infected, but is so large that during the last year it has affected his health and been the cause of several hospital stays. Most recently Aidan was hospitalized for a kidney and urinary tract infection, and the doctors think it was caused by the cyst putting pressure on his ureter and blocking fluid from passing through his kidneys.

Time for something to be done, so... tomorrow Aidan will have end of the shunt tubing taken from his peritoneum and put outside his body. The doctors want to see if he still needs the shunt at all. So they will clamp the tubing and keep an eye on him in the Intensive Care Unit for signs that the ventricles in his brain are swelling. If they do not, he may not need the shunt. If the ventricles do grow, that means that Aidan can't drain cerebro-spinal fluid from his brain by himself. Then the shunt will have to be replaced. The neurosurgeons will discuss exactly where AFTER they see how he does.

I'll close this first entry now. I hope I will get a chance to update from the hospital tomorrow after he goes through the procedure. Today, at home, Aidan was in great spirits, talking up a storm and trying to get involved in his older siblings' Lord of the Ring board game. I doubt if he will feel quite as good tomorrow, but I hope this hospital stay will be a good step for him since the abdominal cyst has been a real problem for him for several months now.