Ahoy mates,

The skin that they replaced over my son's shunt in January is getting dangerously thin again. We have an appoint ment with his neurosurgeon tomorrow at 10:30 in New Orleans. Surgery is likely to happen this weekend.
I'll be on the road all day tomorrow, bringing them to N.O., and then coming home when everything is settled. When I find out more I'll let you guys know.

Gator

Prayers to you and your family Kenny.

All the best Kenny for you and your family.

My thoughts and prayers are with Lil Gator.

Tell Lil Gator the folks in lil ol New Zealand are rooting for him.

Regards

Sean

As always, my brother, Ian will be in my thoughts and prayers...keep us posted, Ken...
~Mark

This really blindsided us. When Ian had the surgery in January, for the same thing, we thought that we were finally finished with operations for several years. This will make #17, and if the doctor can't figure out why this happened, we could be doing this again in 5 months.
With all that he has been through, it just isn't fair.

It certainly isn't fair when a little guy like him has to go through all this. Our prayers are with him.

Hope everything turns out OK with your kid, Kenny!
Prayers from here to there!

Rui

Thank you for the prayers.

I’ll send my prayers Kenny.
Best of luck.

I'm very sorry to hear this Gator. My prayers out to you and your family. Keep us posted please.

Surgery #17....you have a very brave son my friend. I hope someday to meet him and shake his hand

Steve

He's the latest news guys.

We saw the neurosurgeon today. Ian will have surgery Monday morning. He explained why the skin has thinned over the shunt.

Let me show you what Ian has:

The shunt is a one way valve that allows the unabsorbed spinal fluid to drain away from the head.

The yellow rectangle in the illustration is the shunt. The shunt is located inside the skull and is connected to the drain line by a 90 degree connector. The drain line is run just under the skin.

Ian's problem is that the 90 degree fitting is putting pressure on the skin as he grows, causing the skin to thin. To fix this problem, the surgeon is going to grind a channel in the skull to recess the fitting and the sew up the skin. With the fitting recessed, there will be nothing to put pressure on the skin.

Kenny,

I am sorry to read of your sons need to undergo further surgery, I would like to wish this brave little chap all the best, I will also say that my thoughts are with you and your wife, please keep us informed.

PeteV

Gator,

The prayers from me and my fellow officers from Palisades Nuclear Plant are with you and your family. Hope this will be the last hospital stay for awhile.

Kenny I’ll keep you, Ian and the rest of the family in my prayers then.
Hopefully this will fix the problem.
Best of luck and I wish him quick recovery.

Thanks guys.

My best wishes go with you and your family

Praying for you and your family Ken. I pray things go good.

Hi,

All the best for your son.

Thanks guys.

I guess if you had to have the surgery, the one thing that s comforting is that it is not so intrusive. Anything dealing with the brain or internal organs is very frightening. My dad had his gall bladder removed last fall. He's had a flair-up recently and that is very intrusive surgery and he is over 80. But other than that he is in good health and a retired surgeon so if they have to go back in he stands a good chance of a speedy recovery. I wish the same for your son.

Here's a recent photo of the little guy.

My best wishes to Lil Gator, you and the misses, and heres to a speedy recovery.

All the best
Luciano

Thanks Luciano.

As a recent father I can definitely have a lot of sympathy for the little chap and to what you endure right now, I wish the best for your family,
JB