Hi Jennifer
I am the Mom of a 18 year old with Hydro and a host of other conditions, he is going to college, he has some help from the college special services, he too is having problems with finding friends, I think everyone feels that way when they are a young adult or in college. I also am a Job Coach at a Vocational Service for adults with developmental disabilities and we help people either get ready for school or work, or just help them with daily living tasks depending on their wants and abilities, maybe you could see about a vocational service in your area. just one more idea. It is great you have a job, and you don't sound like a scaredy cat to me, sounds like your doing great. Plus you seemed to find some new inter-net friend right here with us.
Hope your having a terrific day, glad to meet you
Deborah

Jennifer,

The reason I asked if you'd ever lived in the Houston area is that I once met a young woman with hydrocephalus named Jennifer who had the same job you do. I lost her email when my computer decided to dump everything I'd ever done. I was just wondering if perhaps you were her.

I'm glad you've found this group, there are wonderful people here.

I look forward to talking to you more in the future, I'm always eager to talk to adults with hydrocephalus, as y'all are able to give me some ideas about what to expect as my daughter gets older.

Take care!

Hey AustinMom, so what is Austin going to college for, and where is he going? How long has he had his Hydrocephlus, and does he have a shunt? What other disabilities does he have? Does he get the help he needs? Hope to talk to you soon!!!!

Hi Jennifer...I finally found my way here from the now apparently defunct Braintalk 1. I am 38 and have had hydro all my life...could always use another friend..I have lived the full spectrum of experience with hydro and would be happy to be a friend or just an ear.

I look forward to knowing you more..and welcome

Jennifer,
Austin’s going to college for a Associate in Science Degree, (this takes 2 years) he then wants to go into neuro-diagognostic technology ...an EEG Tech (this takes 2 years) then he wants to Transfer to a 4 year college and if he can he wants to become a Neurologist specializing in Seizures and Hydro. Austin is going to a junior college in Orange County California How long has Austin had his Hydrocephalus? Since he was 6 weeks old ( he had E-coli meningitis at 2 days old ) he had one shunt then at 14 they had to place a Second shunt into a cyst or entrapped ventricle, so Austin has had Hydro all his life and now has 2 shunts, one is programmable Austin has many other conditions, he has a seizure disorder, DRD dystonia, he is Ataxic, has tremors, he is deaf in his right ear, he had a colloid cyst that was removed and he got really bad short term memory loss with that operation, he has some writing and thought processing problems, Austin has many conditions, and many revisions, but he really doesn’t think of himself as disabled just thinks he has to work hard to get anything Austin rides the bus, he cant drive a car, he cant ride a bike he has balance and multi-task issues, but he can do so many things he won 5000 in scholarships for college, he is living with a family on his own, he came up on the bus this weekend he can do everything, but, Does he get the help he needs?..... boy... no, he could use much more help, but being an adult the colleges only do so much, I think it could be better, yet his college counselor seems very good and they are helping quite a bit, with extra time on test, note takers and a quite place to take test, but with Austin's short term memory loss it can be hard for him to memorize everything. but every college is different, there is a college in Palm Springs California who specializes in people with conditions of the brain, seizures, Hydro, a many conditions it is called the college of the desert Austin’s Neuro talked to us about it, and I am sure there are many other schools who have programs of all sorts, College is never out of your grasp, you can start slow one or two classes and work up to more and remember to check on vocational services. Austin is up this weekend and I will ask him to read your post he E-mails a group of young adults he meet at the Hydro Conference from last spring in Baltimore and 2 years ago in San Francisco, maybe he could private message you and the two of you could talk over the inter-net, or he could just post to this forum, what ever you like it may take him a few days he is up to visit some old friends this weekend, but I will talk with him
My son is a wonderful person, and a great friend I am a better person just knowing my kid, he is great, sorry this was so long but I guess I wanted to talk Too
Hugs,
Deborah

Hey WmM3 I am glad you are going to be my friend, the reason we don't have friends is because we are different because of our hydro, What kind of hydro do you have? Hope to talk to you soon!!!!

Hey Deborah

I like to talk to and I am glad it was so long, you seem like the only real friend I have on here and I appreciate it, tell Austin to drop me a line anytime, like I said I don't have very many friends. Will Austin have to have any revision, my neurosurgeon told me maybe in two years I would have to have one, I hope I am ready for this one, considering the last one I was five or six. I am going to take a compass test on October 4th to see if I can get into a Community/Technical College. Does Austin have any remedial/special education classes? How often does he go to the ns? How often does he have a CT scan? Hope to talk to you soon!!!!

Hi Jennifer How are you doing? I have been very busy with my kids sorry I have not posted much
Hope things are well with you
Deborah

Thanks Deborah

No one is talking to me, and I am on here almost everyday, and it is ok, if you are busy, I also have time to talk. How is Austin? How many kids do you have? What do they think of Austin? Is his college life going better? How often does Austin go to the NS? Hope to talk to you soon!!!!

Jennifer

Hi Jennnifer,
Some times you need to post a question for people to write, due to this being a long 3 page post. amke a new one. maybe if you write a new post others will write.
Austin is doing pretty good at school, he took a test and he got a B I have 2 kids total Austin and my 7 year old daughter, she just loves her brother, what does she think of Austin???? She knows Austin has conditions Austin has Ataxia and dystonia so he can fall or lose the use of his legs wobble around a bit most the time he is just fine, but she only has known Austin as he is so she just thinks it’s her brother, that’s all and she wants him to play as often as he will. Roommates seem to be always a sticky wicked but he is doing good in college. Austin sees his NS 1 time a year just to check on things. How often do you go to your NS? Also the original brain talk is back up the site where most of these people came from I am going to post there I will check here now and then but here is the site you maybe able to use your same name to post there but you must register first, it is a great site and some of the nieces people did not find this site so you may want to check this hydro site out. http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums
I hope to see you there it takes a while for it to process but if you turn your computer off it may register fast when you re turn it back on and go onto Brain Talk
Will check on you
Hugs
Deborah