DATE OF BIRTH: September 11th, 2007

 ILLNESS:  Hydrocephalus

BIOGRAPHY

Cadel was born 8 weeks early via emergency caesarian weighing 2.1 kilograms.  He was incredibly healthy for a 32 weeker!  Everything was going wonderfully until he began having seizures and vomiting.  Our peadiatrician immediately began broad spectrum antibiotics and anti-seizure medication as she suspected Meningitis, an ultrasound showed increased fluid on the brain and signs of infection or a bleed.  Things went downhill from there and Cadel had to be transferred to a larger hospital for breathing support, he was ventilated for 10 days and we are incredibly lucky he survived.

We came home from hospital on 01/11/07, a week later Cadel had another ultrasound showing increased fluid on his brain and he was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus.  We were living in Darwin at the time and were sent to Adelaide so that he could have his first shunt inserted.  He was just 12 days past his due date when he had his first lot of brain surgery.  We came home 10 days later.

Everything went well once again, but Cadel began having seizures.  An MRI on 01/02/08 showed that their were further pockets of Hydrocephalus.  We came to Adelaide again and spent 8 weeks in hospital, during which time Cadel contracted meningitis again, during this admission he had 1 attempt at a third ventriculostomy to clear pathways in the brain for the fluid to flow and 5 shunt related surgeries.  He left hospital with 2 shunts and the possibility of a 3rd and 4th needing to be placed in the future.  In June the 3rd shunt was inserted and the 4th was inserted in August.

A week after the 4th shunt was inserted Cadel was admitted to hospital with yet another infection in his brain.  This time we spent 5 weeks in hospital, and he was there for his first birthday.  By the time we went home at the end of October he had undergone 17 brain surgeries and spent 6 months in hospital.  He was only 14 months old.

I am pleased to say that we have now been home for 3 months, this is the longest amount of time we have ever spent at home without a hospital admission and it is wonderful!!  We spend a lot of time doing therapy with Cadel as all the insult to his brain has caused permanent damage leading to Cerebral Palsy and injury to the areas of his brain that control his eye movement.  We know that there will come a time when Cadel will need further surgery as there is a high failure rate for shunts, especially in young children.  For now though, we just concentrate on on enjoying being home as a family and helping Cadel to develop as best we can.  He is a wonderful, gorgeous happy little man, and despite the challenges we have faced as a family we wouldn't change a thing, he is our little champion!