Our final stop in one of our day-long excursions to Rochester last month was Strong Hospital for a head CT for Jackson. At the urging of Jackson's Ortho (Dr. Sanders), we met with his Neuro (Dr. Silberstein) to discuss the possibility that Jackson's increasing scoliosis may be caused by a shunt malfunction. Although not common, increasing scoliosis can be a sign of shunt malfunction so that's why Dr. Sanders wanted us to be seen by Dr. Silberstein just to be sure that wasn't the case. I'm not exactly sure how the two are related and I've tried to research a little to figure it out but haven't found a suitable explanation. So, I'll take their word for it that they could be related. Better safe than sorry. That's my motto.
Dr. Silberstein didn't feel that Jackson was experiencing any shunt complications as he was not showing any of the other more common symptoms, such as:
- Unusual irritability
- Vomiting
- Crossed eyes
- Unexplained sleepiness
- Headaches
- Seizures
- Loss in previous abilities (sensory or motor function)
As a reminder, Jackson has Hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus is a build up of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the ventricles of the brain. Jackson had a ventriculo-peritoneal (VP) shunt placed when he was a month old to help drain this excessive fluid from his brain down into his abdomen. Jackson's shunt now controls the amount of fluid that is drained. It will automatically drain when the fluid pressure gets too high in his brain. It also is set up to keep too much fluid from draining as that would not be good either. If there is a malfunction with the shunt, then his ventricles will enlarge as they are not able to drain the CSF properly. Therefore, getting a baseline measurement of his ventricles now will help diagnose a shunt issue in the future as we will be able to more easily see if there is a fluid build-up.
When Jackson was an infant he would get ultrasounds to monitor his Hydrocephalus, but since his fontanelle is closed now an ultrasound won't work. Enter the Computed Tomography (CT) Scan. Or torture device as I'm sure Jackson refers to it.
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| Here's what the evil, horrible weapon of mass hysteria looks like. |
Well, guess what? They didn't order it as a sedated scan. Great, just great. I thought it might actually work out okay though because Jackson was asleep when we got there. Maybe he'll just stay asleep. He had had a long day already and was out cold. I'll pop him out of his stroller, onto the bench, get the scan and transfer him back to the stroller. He'll stay asleep, right? Easy peasy, right? WRONG!!!!!!!
They were able to get him right in for the scan but as soon as I picked him up out of the stroller, he woke up. But, they wanted to continue with it anyways. In hindsight, I should've been more forceful in requesting them to reschedule and order the scan as a sedated one. Never again will I put him (or myself) through that. He screamed and cried the whole time. My mother could hear him all the way down the hall in the waiting room. They had a Child Life Specialist in the room as well who was trying to help calm him down, but he wanted no part in the beanie baby and song she was singing him. He wanted up and outta that thing. As his head placement was pretty secure, they decided to do the scan. I stayed with him the whole time trying to console and keep him calm. They said they were able to get the images they needed and we got the h-e-double-hockey-ticks out of there! He calmed down relatively easy after we were out of the radiology department.
We haven't heard anything back from Dr. Silbersteing about the scan, but no news is good news.
Hopefully, he won't be needing one of those again any time soon!
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