Please pray

Please pray for my neurosurgeon as he is making a big decision regarding me.

He called me back tonight. He is concerned about another vp shunt because this one isn't working so well and he anticipates the same may likely be true of a second. He told me that his rule is always NOT to put a lp shunt in a person with chiari--which I have. An lp shunt can cause complications with chiari and can result in the necessity of another chiari surgery--sometimes soon and sometimes not. He studied my mri's before calling me and said that the other bad thing about the lp shunt is that I have a very small area around my brain stem which will make the surgery difficult. He ended by saying that he would schedule surgery but had to really think about which shunt (which will be the second) would be the best choice for me.

Just an fyi, I am not medically inclined but I thought I would explain a couple things so this makes a little more sense as well as I can. I might not be right on. First, my vp shunt has been a problem because the tubing runs into my brain into a ventricle of the brain--a fold in the brain where the spinal fluid is produced--and my ventricles are extremely small. So fluid drains and my brain collapses on the tube. I have studied the lp shunt little but my understanding is that the shunt (the bump some of you have seen on my head) is placed in the lower spinal cord. It drains in the abdomen like the vp. It sounds like a tube runs up the spine to the brain stem, which is why he is so concerned about the size of the fluid around that area. I've explained this as best I understand it but if I figure out something is wrong I will clarify later.

Neither are real good options, but we don't have any others. We have exhausted our options. We are praying the Lord will lead the doctor to make the best decision that will give me some good years. We don't understand why the Lord is leading us down this difficult path but we know He has a plan and are focusing on that right now.