Recovery - Day 1

Silas is recovering well from his brain surgery at UCSF Children's Hospital.

Last night he went in for surgery around 9pm and came back to his room before 11pm. We are thankful that his neurosurgeon was able to stay around after his last scheduled surgery last night in order to work on Silas. This being a holiday weekend, another pediatric neurosurgeon would not have been available until next week, and emergency surgeries would have had to be done by a neurosurgeon, but not a pediatric specialist, and the doctors at Silas's clinic here felt strongly that the surgery needed to be done immediately.

Silas's neurosurgeon at UCSF, Dr. Auguste, placed a programmable right occipital ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt in Silas's brain in order to relieve the pressure caused by his hydrocephalus. In the process he reported relieving fluid under significant pressure in his lateral ventricles. The surgery was successful and went smoothly and involved minimal loss of blood.

Silas is now awake and in good spirits. He was extubated immediately after his surgery and is now breathing fine on his own. We are in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) where he is connected to monitors and in the care of a staff of doctors and nurses, and we expect to be moved to a regular pediatric floor later this weekend.

We will be kept here at UCSF for about another three days so Silas can be observed as his cerebrospinal fluid slowly drains. His shunt valve is set at its medium setting to allow the fluid to drain slowly and more naturally. The process will take a few days because the cells of the brain have absorbed excess fluid in addition to the extra fluid that had accumulated in his ventricles. His breathing problems (stridor) have reduced, but are still present and should lessen as the pressure comes down over the next couple of days (you can hear a little of it in this video).






Silas is eating and sleeping normally and seems stronger and happier today. He is still a little groggy from his surgery last night, but he looks much better now that the pressure in his head has begun to go down. We are thankful for the excellent care he has received here and we're coping pretty well with the disappointment that Silas will not be shunt-free as we had hoped. Although there is no firm data to support it, there is a chance that having had the ETV-CPC procedure earlier, he may have a reduced chance of shunt failure in the future, and there is even a chance that he may one day be shunt independent if he can be weened off it as he gets older with the programmable shunt.

Thanks to everyone for remembering Silas in your thoughts and prayers last night during his surgery. We are so thankful that he is doing so well.