The purpose of this blog is to show how faith, my professional training and a healthy sense of humor taught me and continues to teach me that Jesus Christ is always in control. I am a fellow learner as this journey for my child unfolds. My wish is that Ben's legacy gives others hope where there seems to be none. It is also my desire that the information I have assimilated with my medical mind and filtered through a mother's heart gives practical ways to deal with this ever-changing chronic disease. Finally, for the many friends and family members who continue to follow Ben's life change after the injury, the story continues.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Ben has been in  a season of struggle, loss, and medical decline. In April, he started having behavioral struggles  coupled with cognitive loss. Experience has taught Jim and I to push for assessment of the VP shunt,  which manages fluid in Ben’s brain,  when we hear reports of  any worrisome changes in behavior. Repetitive brain CT scans were performed as a response to the mental decline over the last 3 months. Finally, when Ben’s mental decline intensified,  he was admitted to a hospital for 2 weeks where many of his medications were changed. On June 11th, I visited Ben and became very concerned. Something was wrong. He was irritable, unhappy and mentally slow. The irritability moved to aggression and on July 2nd, Ben was taken to the hospital and placed on a mental health hold. We again asked for a brain CT scan. An astute neurosurgeon reviewed the scan and compared it to all of the scans dating back to April. Ben’s shunt wasn’t working and had not been working for a long time. He had changes in brain ventricular size and this means an increase in brain pressure. July 4th he underwent brain surgery for VP shunt revision.