It was the shunt all along!

[angel]

A couple of weeks ago i posted about praying for a friend of mine who has SB. She had gastric bypass surgery, and had complications like you wouldn't believe after that. Well she spent 4 months in the hospital afterward but had to go back within a week of her release because of excrutiating leg pain that no one could figure out.
Well she was in a rehab hospital and we kept begging everyone to understand that she needed a real hospital not a rehab because something just wasn't right and it had nothing to do with anything they could help with. Of course no one listened until she deteriated so badly over a 24 hour period we all were concerned she was going to die in that place. He fiance, finally got another doctor in to see her and they could not figure out what was going on. They transfered her to another city where it was determined immediatly she had an infection in teh lower part of the shunt that drained into the belly. When they went in to replace it the shunt she had had for over 20 years just fell apart. They replaced it, about 5 hours later figured out it wasn't draining, replaced it again, and again it wasn't draining. Put her on a ventalater and then tried again for a 3rd time. I am happy to say that i learned tonight that was the whole problem. As soon as the shunt was in properly she was taken off the vent, a few hours later and all her pain in her leg is now gone. Looks like she is finally on the road to recovery. Just wanted to share and thank those of you who kept her in your thoughts.

Angel

[misty]

Oh that's awesome news (not that her shunt freaked out, but that they found it and fixed it)! I'll keep praying for a fast recovery and no more issues!

[Lifeisgood]

Wow! What a story!!! I am so glad to hear that they finally figured it out and that she is on the road to recovery!

[Summer25]

I hope they made sure the infection was gone before they replaced the shunt. Almost the same exact thing happened to me. I had a bladder augmentation and ended up with a shunt infection. I had an external shunt for about a month before they would put the internal shunt back in because of the infection. The infection has to be totally gone before they can even think of replacing it, so that it doesn't get infected again. They also removed my whole shunt and replaced it with a VA shunt so that the infection wouldn't return.

[Jess&Madi]

Glad U both r ok. What's a VA shunt?

[Summer25]

Glad U both r ok. What's a VA shunt?

VentricularAtrial. Meaning it drains into the atrial of the heart instead of the abdominal cavity.

[Dodger67]

Atrium - noun
Atrial - adjective
A VA shunt drains the excess CSF into the bloodstream instead of the abdominal cavity like a VP (peritoneal) shunt does.
The VA shunt isn't as popular as the VP version as its more complicated to install. Its usually only for people who have had repeated problems with peritoneal drainage.

[angel]

I thought they would have to do the external shunt as well. I am not sure exactly how they did it or where it drains as i haven't had a chance to get the details from her yet. Her fiance has been keeping me updated since she has been so sick. I am calling her tomorrow to get all the info from her. He is learning about all this shunt stuff right along with me. He isn't disabled and i don't have a shunt so neither of us know all the details about how all this is working.
I heard the shunt placement proceedure went well today though so 3 days of good news in a row is awesome!

Angel

[valerie]

ah finally, thats good news... at least she can get on with her life now... pain free......

[Papillon]

Atrium - noun
Atrial - adjective
A VA shunt drains the excess CSF into the bloodstream instead of the abdominal cavity like a VP (peritoneal) shunt does.
The VA shunt isn't as popular as the VP version as its more complicated to install. Its usually only for people who have had repeated problems with peritoneal drainage.

I had a VP shunt put in when I was just born, which lasted until I was 12 when it blocked, then blocked again, and again, in the space of 3 months (possibly something got in that wasn't meant to when they did the revisions?). Then, when I was 18 my shunt blocked again repeatedly, then it was changed to a VP shunt.

I am not sure about what you say here, Dodger, about it being only when it blocks repeatedly - I had no problems for many years, then a whole string of problems from age 18-21 but they told me that they would change it to a VP shunt because that was the better version once I had stopped growing (with the VA one, they can leave a coil of shunt in the peretineal cavity (spelling) so that it can un-coil as you grow, which is one of the reasons why it lasted from when I was a few days old until I was 12). I think they replace the VP shunt with a VA shunt quite routinely here in Australia in adults - probably only when they need to go in due to a shunt malfunction anyway, though.

I did have one particular problem when they first inserted the VA shunt - they'd made it too long, so it went into the wrong chamber of my heart, and I had heart palpatations/skipped beats. They never would have known except I told them that my heart was doing funny things - I am guessing they should have done some kind of an xray to see where it was, but apparently they didn't. They had to go in less than 24 hours later and cut a bit off it - done under local anaesthetic because two generals in 24 hours is not a good idea. They just went back in through where they'd stitched my neck up (on my jawline on the right hand side), and undid the join in the shunt and snipped a bit off it then re-attached it.

Papillon

[Gymp]

I'm glad they finally got it sorted Angel.Hopefully your friend will be home soon!

Gymp

[Dodger67]

Angel, when your friend is back home please invite her to join us here.

[angel]

I will, I have actually mentioned it to her several times already. She says she wants to check it out but for a few months before this happened she was trying to plan her wedding. It was supposed to be this year but it has been postponed due to this extended problem. I will definatly mention it to her again.

Angel