This morning Vickie had a cranial procedure to determine if she did have an infection associated with her shunt. The results showed positive for infection.
Late in the afternoon Vickie went to the operating room to have the shunt removed. When it was pulled out it was apparent that something else was wrong. The surgeon realized the lower end of the tube had caused a perforation in her colon, a very unusual situation. Additional surgeons were called in to do abdominal surgery. They did a colostomy. This will remain until Vickie’s body heals enough to tolerate surgery to repair the damage. In the meantime she will remain at Emanuel for several weeks primarily for infection prevention.