Hi,

My partner is soon going to undergo vp shunt surgery and I was just wondering if anyone has a shunt and their experiences with the surgery and after.

Kaitlin

I haven't had a shunt, but I think that if you search around on this site you will find a lot of information about this.  if you go to group huddle and look at the thread titles you may find conversations where people are talking about this.

Hi Kaitlin! I had a LP shunt installed in 1999 and a VP shunt last year. So far, I much prefer the VP shunt. I immediately felt better, so was sitting up and talking to nurses while chomping ice in recovery. Everyone responds differently, but it wasn't as horrible as it looked or sounded.

I think they had me off work for 8 weeks, but it was a fairly typical recovery..mostly letting the incision heal and some soreness in chest/stomach from fishing the catheter through muscle to the peritoneal cavity (the extra CSF is drained off the brain and emptied into the cavity to be reabsorbed). I had activity restrictions and wasn't able to lift much for awhile, but it wasn't awful. They just shaved a tiny patch of hair to make an incision, so my hair was long enough to cover it. I can feel the valve laying under my scalp and the catheter coming down the side of my neck, but then it disappears. It was strange at first, but I'm used to it now and don't notice it most days. They're supposed to be able to use a magnet in the doctor's office to turn the dial on the valve, which gauges how much fluid is drained (pressure level).

That's all I can think of right now, but let me know if you have questions. I hope it helps!