After weeks of headaches and vomiting due to hydrocephalus, a build-up of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) pressure in the brain, my son will finally be relieved of these symptoms when a shunt is placed his body that will flow from beneath his skull to his bowels. Placing a foreign object in the body is always risky because there is a chance the man-made device could cause infection or simply stop working making his vomiting and headaches return in a stronger capacity. It is said that one in three shunts need revisions in the first year although those statistics are somewhat discouraging, the overall benefits of a shunt outweigh the risks.
So, after a year of enormous life changes, my son will endure one more change to his body -- a change for the better we hope.
