Stu and Lin: A good day and some more procedures

A good day and some more procedures
Feb 27, 2008

Today was very good and somewhat humbling. I got 3 kisses and plenty of looks, squeezes and head turns. She remains very "sleepy", awake for maybe 10-15 minutes out of an hour. As I said before, today was better then yesterday; tomorrow will be better still. Now for the humbling part; Lin will have another surgical procedure. Lin currently has a tube into the ventricles of the upper part of the brain (it's only good for about 10 - 14 days). The body produces about 1 qt of cerebrospinal fluid each day and absorbs/drains the same amount through various pores and drains. When the brain is injured or surgically "messed with" the natural drainage can be interrupted. Sometimes it never returns to it pre surgical state. In order to deal with that, a shunt can be placed from the ventricles to the abdominal compartment. People live with these shunts for 10-15 years or more without complications. It's one of those things that come with the territory. This will probably happen on Friday.

Lin's slow recovery stems from the insult on her cerebellum, particularly on the left side. As stated in previous postings her left has been slower to respond then the right. As the swelling continues to decrease, function of the cerebellum will increase. During surgery, a blood vessel in that area had do be clamped. The tumor was attached to it and clamping was unavoidable. This has led to some damage to the cerebellum and slowed Lin's recovery. Dr Pribil is sure that the function of her left side will improve dramatically over time and as the swelling continues to go down. Couple that with continued treatment and therapy, Lin will be walking, talking and know what shut-up means (not that she'll listen to me). All that will take time.

Stu