That’s a great question!
Evidently, I only learned afterwards that it was my neuroradiologist who was pushing for me to have a shunt. In my first “official” follow-up with him a few months post-rupture, he evidently told himself “this person needs a shunt!”, so that is I think what really started the process. In hindsight it was obvious when the first one started to fail because of the meningitis, as my hydrocephalus symptoms started coming back again (lack of balance, coordination, energy, and I am sure you could hear it in my speech as well the other symptoms). So, if anything like that starts creeping in again, I should reach out to the team.
I had not heard about any of them coming out before - interesting! I can see where that is possible (especially if you hit/injury your head) while at the same time I don’t think it would be easy a year plus into the latest one given that the incisions have healed long ago, hair has grown over, etc. so it isn’t immediately obvious.
@Bordercolliemum, I could not drive for about 8 months - until after the shunt was placed, and then a few months after that. Of course, I had to have EEG monitoring done to ensure that I was not having seizures first. Then when shunt #2 came back around I stopped driving again for a few months, so it was definitely over a year in total.
Additionally, I was having a chat with Judi a few months back. I have the same problem with sleep, but I was having that problem long before the rupture so I can’t blame it on that. Judi shared with me some sleep stories that do help, so you may want to see if they work for you too!
Apologies for being so brief, got to head off to work.
Sending warm thoughts your way!
Fin Whale Fan 