vp shunt I have some questions can you help
 

Hello all
I am a 24 year old female that is having a vp shunt placed and I have some questions, hopefully someone can help. How much does it hurt and how long are you in bed? My doctor has answered these questions but I would like to hear from someone who has gone through it personally. Also exactly how much of my hair are they going to shave and how did you guys deal with having your head shaved was it easy to cover up and how fast did it grow back?

I was in the hospital for 2 days. The hair will grow back, don't worry about that. A scarf, hat will hide it. I wore a hat for about 2 weeks because it scared the kids I was working with.

The shunt caused me to loose about 95% of short and long term memory, something the doc did not explain to me. The surgery was about 3 years ago and I sense that about 30% of long term memory is still missing. I had to develop several aids to help with the short term stuff, I could not tell you what I did the day before. It has gotten better but still have some rough days remembering things.

David

Hi, My daughter had the same surgery 3 yrs ago at the age of 41 and she was worried about the same things. I was with her the whole time and she was not in pain very much. They had her up and out of bed about 6 hrs after surgery and she went home the next day. She stayed around the house for about a week but not always in bed. As for her hair, they shaved it from her temple down to her ear and she was able to pull her hair foward to cover it. After 2 mo. she had the other side of her hair trimmed to match the shaved side. She was back to normal in no time at all. I hope this info helps and good luck to you!

My daughter had a shunt placement in 2009 when she was 4 years old. I was worried about the shaven spot but it wasn't as bad as I expected. She had a 2x2 area shorn above her right ear. We got a bunch of fun hats for after the surgery. After the surgery she was out of bed by the next day and back to daycare by week 2 with no restrictions. After a few months of growing her hair out, she was able to cut the front of her hair so she had bangs to completely conceal the short spot.

Luckily for her, there haven't been any complications or headaches since then and she hardly knows it is there, except the spot where her tube crosses her collarbone... its tickle-y. I hope everything is going well for you and that your procedure goes smoothly.