endoscopic fenestration of the septum pellucidum

Nora is gearing up for her first stay in the hospital since leaving the NICU in January. In a few weeks she will be having brain surgery to allow the CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) in her right ventricle drain into her left ventricle and out of the brain where it is supposed to go. She will be at Bronson in Kalamazoo for a few days for the surgery then will take about a week to recover at home.

We have not yet scheduled the surgery as we are first going to get a second opinion from one of the pediatric neurosurgeons at the U of M. Assuming that they concur with the recommendation of Dr. Warder at Bronson, we will then schedule the surgery.

Although I am not too thrilled about her getting surgery, I am thankful that this procedure even exists. With all of my research, I didn't even know about it until Dr. Warder told us on Friday. This is a much better option than a shunt. There is a likelihood that she will have to have it done again once or twice if her brain heals over the hole that is cut in the septum pellucidum (membrane that separates the two halves of the brain), but that is better than a shunt still. It is also possible that she will end up with a shunt anyway at some point; but this surgery could at least allow us to delay that for a couple of years.

We will keep you updates as I get more news and get the surgery scheduled.