Going Ahead with the ETV

We've mentioned many times in regards to Nathan's hydrocephalus and the consistent shunt failures that we were running out of good options. 

To better illustrate that point and to help everyone get a better picture of the position we were in, Dr. Riva-Cambrin informed us that the likelihood of the ETV working was only about 20%.  That meant that there was an 80% chance that it wouldn't work. 

Can you imagine that?  The best option you have in front of you only has a 20% chance that it's going to fix the problem.

As is custom, they scheduled Nathan for surgery the next day, since it is better to have him on the schedule and not need it than to not have him on there and try to fit him in.  Then we went home to discuss it and see if this is what we wanted to do.

That night, we talked a lot and prayed a lot and decided that this really was the best option available to us.

So the next day, they took Nathan for an MRI to get a good look inside his head and to make sure that there was no anatomical reason to not do the ETV.  With the MRI results looking promising, they took Nathan into surgery.

The surgery went really well and Dr. Riva-Cambrin was really pleased.  With the ETV, there was no need for the shunt.  So that was removed.  But unfortunately, none of us had any control over how Nathan's body would respond to the ETV.  A CT the next day showed that the ETV was working, so it was very promising. 

But as with all of the other attempts to fix it, only time was going to tell.