Original Diagnosis

Day 34. 

Awww! Look, how cute! This is an image from my very first MRI.💕

My ONLY symptoms with these enlarged ventricles were dizziness (like a mold of jello was jiggling in my head) and chronic exhaustion. My headaches didn't begin until I received my first shunt two weeks after this MRI was taken. And they didn't stop until sometime in late 2004.

Before a doctor at the BYU Health Center insisted I receive a MRI for my chronic dizziness, three doctors at Kaiser in Antioch and Walnut Creek diagnosed me with a cold in my inner ear, anxiety and stress, and absolutely nothing at all (the latter "diagnosis" was due to perfectly normal blood tests). Thankfully, the dizziness went away at the end of summer and that allowed me to return to Utah where the correct diagnosis was made when the symptoms returned a month later.

Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV)

This is similar to the last brain surgery I had in October 2003 after my third shunt failed. It's a relatively quick procedure actually.

The question of the hour is whether or not this hole they made has scarred over and closed/partially closed and needs to be reopened OR whether or not the hole is open but is no longer draining enough CSF and I need a shunt to drain the excess fluid. Does that make sense? The MRI was supposed to show the CSF flow through this fenestration, but they didn't do that test yesterday for whatever ridiculous reason. But my symptoms suggest that either case requires surgery.

We will have a better game plan on Tuesday. So in the meantime, thank you for your prayers. I guarantee that we're feeling each and every one! #hydrocephalus #endoscopicthirdventriculostomy #etv #etvfailure #aqueductalstenosis