Brain is full

Today Tyler had a MRI and a visit with the neurosurgeon. Ben and I are not thrilled. Basically the fluid dynamics in Tyler's head are unchanged. The ventricles are still too small and there is still fluid on the outside of his brain. The ventricles won't expand because there is fluid on the outside of the brain keeping the pressure up which means the shunt works. The fluid on the outside of the brain won't go down because the ventricles don't have the ability to expand to push the brain matter back thus moving the outside fluid out. We don't have any more clear answers as to why Tyler isn't able to see depth correctly and why his eye won't converge properly. Currently the theory is that the fluid on the outside of the brain is putting a bit of pressure on the part of the brain that controls eye movement and that impacts depth perception.

So what is being done? We turned up the shunt all the way so that it takes a lot of pressure for the valve to open to release fluid in the ventricles. Hopefully that will allow the ventricles to increase in size, push the brain matter back, and squeeze that outside fluid out of the way. We will have another MRI in a few weeks to see what's going on with the fluids. If that doesn't work we are looking at more surgery and the addition of a second shunting system for the outside fluids. This is were Ben and I are really questioning this plan. We are talking about getting a fresh pair of eyes on this problem. I get the feeling that Tyler is charting new and eventful ways of doing this. What an amazing kid!

Eyes look good.

We had a very nice visit with the ophthalmologist today. It was very helpful to have our eye therapist at the visit as well. With a quick check, it's determined that Tyler's eye issues look to be neurological in nature. His optic nerve didn't look swollen or other wise damaged. The ophthamologist doesn't want to correct any muscle problem that causes the eye to wander and the problems with depth because she suppects that Tyler's neurological stage is still out of balance. So another call into neuro to set up a MRI and appointment hopefully next week.