My Brain Is Drowning

My Brain Is Drowning

          People read the title and wonder:Can my brain drown? The answer is yes. Everyone's brain is bathed in CSF{Cerebral Spinal Fluid}. There are people who have the unfortunate disorder called hydrocephalus. Hydro means water, while Cephalus means brain.

          I am writing this because I have a personal stake in this condition. I have had this all my life. I was born with this. To this day, its cause has not been determined. Hydrocephalus can affect anyone at any stage of their life. Generally hydrocephalus is congenital, which mean from birth. However, it can also occur due to some type of head trauma during any portion of one's life.

          Primary symptoms of hydrocephalus are headaches, abdominal pains, nausea, loss of consciousness, and vomiting. In infants, one of the first clues that this disorder is present, would be the size of the head. Eyes fixed downward is another sign. In older children and adults, irritability, lack of concentration at school or work, seizures, personality changes, sleeplessness.

          The primary type of doctor who handles this type of disorder is called a neurosurgeon. After an initial examination, s/he will perform a surgical procedure to insert a shunt. I am not going to say that this surgery is not dangerous. Anything to do with the brain is a risky endeavor. If this procedure is performed on an infant, there will be subsequent revisions to keep up with the child's growth. The initial shunt is inserted in the brain. There is tubing that is connected to the shunt that is either placed in the heart ventricle, or in the abdominal or peritoneal cavity. I had it in the heart for the first nineteen years of my life and then in the peritoneal cavity for the last thirty one.

          After the initial surgery, most parents and older patients wonder what is next. Will they be able to lead a normal life? What, if any, support is available for the rest of their lives? The answer to these and many other questions is that it depends on the severity of disorder. This disorder can cause brain damage. Occupational, physical, speech and other therapies are used to assist the patient in their quest for a near normal life.

          I just turned fifty this past April. I was diagnosed when I was two months of age. At three months, I had my first shunt surgery. This would be the beginning of over five hundred surgeries over my lifetime to this point. Back when I was diagnosed, most doctors did not want to deal with this condition. They considered infants and older children and adults who had it, not worth their time.

          Hydrocephalus is not a death sentence. It is not a reason to be held back in life's endeavors. It is just a hiccup in life. While there are and will be people who have a differing degree of severity, each one should be able to rise to their greatest potential. The brain can drown, but the shunt is the CPR to save a life. Live life to the fullest and go down life's road and smell every flower along its path. My life is going well. There are goals I want to accomplish, and I will do so. In time, I hope live the life God has chosen for me. Not the life well meaning individuals have chosen.