Hydrocephalus in Dogs

       Clyde and I are doing well, even though the vets say we are a 'bit odd'. He has had heart surgery to fix a bad valve, but that didn't work, so he is also unable to have surgery to fix the hole in his heart. He has to take medicine twice a day. One medicine is for his heart. The other medicine is for his back legs, because they sometimes don't work when he wants them to. You would think that he would be super lazy and slow, but he still likes to chase me and wrestle. Brothers.

        In case you are wondering, I really do have Hydrocephalus though; I’ve had CT scans and MRI’s. As of right now, I don’t need a shunt. 

        Hydrocephalus in dogs is pretty much the same as in humans. Any dog can develop hydrocephalus at any time just like humans. Though, it is more common for small dogs like me to develop it. The symptoms are even pretty much the same as with humans. The shunt is almost the same too. The shunt for dogs has the catheter and the tubing, and it still fails just as often. 

Here is what the shunts for dogs look like-

                                            This photo is from http://www.pethydro.org

Happy St. Patrick's Day, from Bonnie and Me!

Ok, So What Is Hydrocephalus?

Hydrocephalus is the abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the ventricles in the brain. Hydrocephalus can be developed before or after birth, or after a significant injury to the head. In my case I developed it after birth. Because I was born premature, the blood vessels in my brain were ‘delicate’. So, I ended up developing a “brain bleed” (grade IV Intra-Ventricular Hemorrhage, or IVH). This caused scarring in my ventricles and the CSF was unable to drain properly. 

The most common treatment for Hydrocephalus is a shunt- a catheter, a pressure valve, and a tube. The catheter goes through the brain in to the ventricle that is affected and pulls the CSF into the pressure valve. Once enough pressure builds up, CSF is released down the tube into the heart or abdomen (my tubing goes into my abdomen). Basically, it’s like the scarring is a roadblock and the shunt is a detour for the CSF.

The shunt fails pretty often. I have had 4 revisions and 1 complete replacement and there are many people that have had way more, for example, another girl my age has had almost 70 revisions/replacements. There are also those few lucky people that the ONLY surgery was the initial placement of the shunt!

Of the people I have met with Hydrocephalus, I hear a different story every time! There are many different ways to develop Hydrocephalus, many different treatments, and everyone has their own combination of side effects, disabilities, symptoms, and types of shunt failures!

* Ok, if you are a neurosurgeon reading this…I know this is probably not considered medically accurate; I was just trying to keep it simple. :)

My first shunt!

This is me with my Grandpa Hanly right after I got my shunt.

Bonnie sleeping...

I caught Bonnie sleeping with her brother's new toy. I'll explain her fashion 'choices' later....

School - Part 1

As if school wasn’t boring or annoying enough, it is also very hard for me. It takes me so much longer than everyone else to do the work assigned and it’s even harder when I don’t have helpful teachers.

In the past, I have had some good teachers. Elementary school wasn’t that bad even though it was still hard for me.  I probably never needed a written 504, because the teachers were very helpful and they would just accommodate for my needs (like any nice normal person would do) without been told to by a piece of paper. Middle school was practically the same.

For those of you who don't know, click here for more info on a 504 Plan. What is a 504 Plan? 

Basically my "plan" was that I was able to sit closer to the front (since I'm only 4'11" NOW that was needed anyway!), the teacher would make copies of anything she was writing on the board or the overhead (with my vision it was hard for me to keep up with writing things down quickly), I was allowed to use a rolling backpack for my textbooks, since I was so small and the books were so heavy and a regular backpack put too much strain on my neck...and I was also allowed to keep copies of textbooks at home.  Also, I wasn't allowed to do a lot of PE contact sports. My PE teachers always got scared with this and so wouldn't have me do ANYTHING. Which was fine with me!

One day in middle school, my mom was actually at the school meeting with the staff about my 504 Plan, when the nurse came in to say that I had been hit in the head by a Frisbee. I got a little cut on my eyebrow, and almost needed stitches. And the principal added, "no Frisbee playing" on my 504.

But High School? Now THAT'S a whole other story.

Hello!

Hey Everyone!

My name is Eilish Mangnall. My twin sister Hanley and I were born 2 months early. I developed Hydrocephalus from being born early, and my sister was born with a heart defect and she had a couple open-heart surgeries but died when we were 8 months old. I have had 8 surgeries so far: the placement of the shunt which was my first Christmas present, 5 revisions, an eye surgery and a triple hernia surgery (both were caused by Hydrocephalus). My latest revision was in March 2012. I’ve been doing really well. Basically I’ve created this blog to post about what it's like living with Hydrocephalus. Luckily, I have someone who will be helping me…

Me (left) and Hanley (right).

Me

      Hi, I am Bonnie, and this is the Tale of Bonnie (and Clyde, my brother). I am a little over 1 year old, and I was the runt of my litter.  Eilish’s family adopted us in March 2013 and we were settling in good, but then my brother got sick (maybe from something he ate). Eilish and her mom took us to the vet’s and the doctor gave Clyde medicine.  But we also found out he has a very serious heart defect.  The vet also looked at me and that’s when I was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus. My human mom and sister couldn’t believe that they had just adopted 2 dogs from the same litter that had the same medical problems as Eilish and Hanley! Pretty crazy!

                                         
                                                    The day we came home.

                                                         This is me, Bonnie!