Any help appreciated....
 

I am the mother of a little boy who (as of yesterday was a month old) has hydrocephalus. He was born at 33 weeks and due to his prematurity, had an intraventricular bleed which caused the hydrocephalus. He had a temporary reservoir placed two weeks ago and have been tapping it and draining it every morning. He was finally big enough for a shunt and scheduled to have it placed tomorrow morning. Each time they drain the fluid, they send it to the lab for a culture. Unfortunately, today they found a bacterial infection in it. His surgery is not postponed until the infection is gone. If it does not clear up after three days of antibiotics, he must undergo 21 days of a stronger antibiotic and then he would be able to have surgery. My heart is broken for him as it seems like he cannot catch a break. Has anyone experienced anything like this? I am so scared for him that it is meningitis and that it will do major damage. I am so new to this and would like to know how "normal" this is.

What your boy is going through is semi-'par for the course'. What I mean by that is, where Hydrocephalus is concerned, there is no 'normal'. It is the abnormal, that becomes 'normal'.

I am not saying this to be flippant or ignorant.

I was born with a ventricular brain aneurysm in May'67 and, the aneurysm caused my Hydrocephalus. The first nine years of my life, were spent in hospitals, hospital ORs' and stuck at home. I didn't go to school that much because of my Hydrocephalus back then. The only thing I get now is x-rays and/or CT-Scans(I can't have MRIs' because of metal clips on the aneurysm) and/or EEGs' every five years since my Hydrocephalus has seemingly stabilized.

As for the possibility of meningitis, that needs to be determined ASAP, because meningitis regardless of the cause, is dangerous in and of itself.

I agree that nothing is normal, or to be expected. Thats why you have to take it a day and a symptom at a time!