Before and After: Hydrocephalus
It’s nice to be able to make a difference in a short period of time, and sometimes it’s actually possible.
Hydrocephalus is one of the main conditions I treat as part of the neurosurgery team at Beit Cure Hospital. In the USA we see hydrocephalus occasionally, mainly related to bleeding in the brain from premature birth, or sometimes from a birth anomaly. Here it is mostly a complication of meningitis. These babies start out perfectly normal, but get a serious infection early in life, and their brain literally gets clogged with pus, and later on with scar tissue. Then the fluid starts to build up inside.
Baby Maureen was almost comatose from the high pressure inside her brain when she arrived. She had been doing fairly well despite having a rapidly enlarging head over the past few weeks, but then stopped eating and became very lethargic. That was the day her mother brought her to Beit Cure Hospital. That day we did a procedure called an endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV).
Here she is the morning before her surgery:
Maureen before ETV
And here she is a couple hours after the surgery:
Maureen after ETV
All bright eyed and bushy tailed! She was awake, lively, interested in people, and hungry!
She has continued to do well with no recurrence of her hydrocephalus so far. We thank God for the opportunity to help these children and their families.
Posted on June 16, 2012, in Medical, Outreach and tagged cure, endoscopic third ventriculostomy, hydrocephalus, medical, medicine. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments.
Reblogged this on LegumeLife and commented:
Dr. Karen posts over at FromDistantQuarters (in typically understated style) about some of the valuable work she’s doing to help children here in Zambia.
Beautiful!! So proud of you, Karen, and the work you’re doing there. To God be the glory, great things He has done!
… When pictures say a thousand words. love you my friend, Pam
Fantastic Dr. Karen! What an amazing God we have to make our bodies so resilient and our Doctors so capable and our technology so incredible!
Wow, what a difference and it is great to see the miracle that God did threw your willing hands and big heart for this little lady Maureen. Your prayers too over this child leaves her with an ability to grow-up and hopefully trust our Savior. Keep up the good work, it has to be very fulfilling to be used by God to make a difference in peoples lives.
That was a great story.
Awesome Karen!! What a joy to read this beautiful story!