john,was 2weeks old when first shunt put in..never had his shunt changed from neck up..his doctor one of the best,,,,,Dr.Bernard Stone,pracitice in Worcester county.massachusetts, in the late 1950s..was the first doctor to perform microscopic surgery in the area,,implanted the first shunt to successfully treat hydrocephalus.,he was a distinguished lecture in neurosurgery, sadly passed in 1998...in 1997 was the worse opertion,,yep the worse word for hydo people.......STAPH...instead of changing the hole line..Dr.Stone and the infections disease Dr. found a boy in puerto rico,,that they took the line out and under very sterile conditions injected antibiotics to the line neck up..staph free after four days.. line then put in.neck to stomach thats the last shunt opertion.
Now diabetes..John,worked for Mcdonalds for 10yrs..thats 10yrs of pespi ,hamburgers french fries..not until his shunt problem in 1997 did we find out he was a diabetic..yes he put on weight about 30pounds..after his operation he lost alot of that weight..not until 2005 when his diabetic doctor put him on...ACTOS..did he start putting on alot of weight..190 to 230..and with hypertension now added..starting next week we go to a different diabetic doctor and starting all over again slat clean..expect insulin..and see if we can get better treatment..as all diabetics know it takes time to find the right pills thats right for them...Liz,,john,was never low..hits 95 now and than and feels dizzy when he does..(i know alot of words until i ansured your question..lol)..but with everyone diet and exercise is the only answer and how tired are we of hearing that...we are looking into swimming classes at a gym..his wife also diabetic..(so they help each other)likes that idea..we live in princeton,massachusetts..so its cold.and 7months out of the year not much excercising going on..As a family over weight is now a problem only,John,seens to have it,i have 4 other sons..i am a 63 year old and is 145lbs not bad.....i'll let you know how the new doctor works out.
Thank you for reply,LIZ,take care.
Johnsmom