update on yosemitesam SHUNT?

[yosemitesam]

I am now 6 weeks out of the hospital for a csf leak repair and now I have swelling at my incision. Went into the docs office today
and he said its brain fluid and I will probably need a shunt. Has anyone had one and were there any complications associated?

Had my shunt surgery Monday Dec 6th, the surgery only lasted about an hour and stayed in the hosp. 1 day. I have had lots of headaches since surgery but they are getting better.Hope this is it for me as I have had a total of 5 surgeries.

[jerseygirl]

Hi Sam,

I have LP (lumbar-peritoneal) shunt implanted in 1988 3 months after my first AN surgery. It is still there but it is deemed by doctors to be no longer functioning because of the time passed. The doctor said that he has never seen a shunt that lasts longer than 10 years. It is good news, of course, because this means I am no longer shunt-dependent. I only needed the shunt for a few months while I healed but nobody wanted to risk taking it out. This is a very easy procedure, no big deal. It is also the easiest kind of shunt to have. It is invisible, not painful or bothersome in any way.

Another shunt is VP (ventricular-peritoneal). It goes from head to the stomach. It is a little more difficult to implant. That's the limit of my knowledge about it, may be somebody who has it can chime in.

Either way, no matter which shunt your doctor recommends, it is a fairly uncomplicated procedure that leads to absolutely discomfort in the future. I would not worry about it. Good luck!

                       Eve

[Mark241]

Did you have your shunt placed yet? I go for mine on Jan 4, like you, I am still dealing with the csf drama.

[vickee]

I had a LP shunt placed after having lumbar drains x 3 and a CSF leak repair.  Post shunt placement I've had no problems.  The shunt surgery only took an hour and I spent 2 days in the hospital.  I was back to work part time 2 weeks after shunt placement.   Its been a year since the shunt and I'm 99.9% back to normal.  Good luck on your recovery!  I know its a super scary place to be.  I was terrified, but it all turned out well.

[Mark241]

Thanks' Vickie, thats great new's, I am actually looking forward to the procedure, thanks' so much for your imput, it really does help.