How one surgery turned to five surgeries

What was supposed to be one brain surgery has turned into five over the course of 6 years. This was all due to a bone/surgical infection. Here's a breakout of what was done each surgery:

Surgery #1: Everything went well after my first surgery on 7/11/07. After two weeks I was back in my neurosurgeon's office to have the staples removed, which is very typical. After removing a few staples I felt drainage and a not so pleasant odor. My incision was infected. 

Surgery #2: I had to be admitted back to the hospital the next day to remove the bone flap and get a picc line in my arm so I could be put on IV antibiotics for 6 weeks. I had no skull piece or plate to protect the opening in my head during this time. Similar to a large size baby's soft spot. I had to extremely cautious not to hit my head or do anything rigorous. I was given a helmet that I was suppose to wear while driving. It mostly stayed in the trunk of my car. 

Surgery #3 (December 2007):  Surgery to put the titanium mesh and bone cement to cover the hole in my skull.

*After this surgery I noticed that the ridge from the mesh/cement was pretty thick and I thought it would eventually pierce the skin. It did after about 2 years. It started as a tiny opening and eventually got bigger where you could see part of the titanium mesh. In August of 2013 I woke one morning and noticed fluid draining from the opening. It was clear, but had a slightly thicker consistency than water. I immediately made an appointment with my neurologist and new neurosurgeon. They thought it was cerebral-spinal fluid leaking out, but I wasn't having symptoms like headaches or dizziness. Because the titanium mesh had been exposed to air they knew there would be some type of infection that could continue to get worse. Therefore I would have to go through another two surgeries in order to fix this issue. 

Surgery #4 (October 2013): Remove titanium mesh and bone cement. Culture these to find out what bacteria was growing on them. Another picc line was inserted into my right arm and I was on IV antibiotics for 7 weeks. Similar to surgery #2 I had nothing to protect my skull opening and had to be very cautious not to hit my head or be in a place where my head could accidentally be hit (like large crowds).

*A specific CT scan was done post surgery to get the exact measurement of the hole in my skull. A custom plastic piece was going to be made to fit my skull that had the durability of bone and fit flush into my skull. 

Surgery #5 (December 2013): The new plastic piece was put in and I was on oral antibiotics for 10 days after surgery.

Recent update: After 3 1/2 weeks post surgery I feel pretty much back to normal with no head pains. My energy level is increasing and my appetite is normal. I make sure I do some type of exercise everyday to build my strength. Nothing too rigorous because I am supposed to not sweat, which could cause bacteria to grow around the incision. I focus mainly on walking, yoga and some light strength training. I still have to use baby shampoo everyday for the next 2 weeks or so. As promised I will get some updated pictures too!   

Getting ready for surgery #5

After weeks of trying to get my surgery moved up it has been officially confirmed that my last surgery will be next Monday. Which is when it was originally scheduled for.....*sigh*. I had a feeling that would be the case. I'm still waiting on the time, but I assume since I had booked it weeks ago it will be early in the morning. 

For this they will be putting in a plastic piece that was made to fit exactly the size of the hole in my skull. They had 2 made so I wonder if I can take the other one home....hey, I paid for it! At least I won't have to worry about any ridges with this piece unlike the bone cement and titanium mesh from before. 

This recovery should be a lot easier since I will only have to be on IV antibiotics for one weeks after surgery instead of 6 to 7 weeks. I know my skin might take a little longer to heal this time because it is the 5th time it's been cut open. 

I'm more anxious than nervous about the surgery. I'll be praying that everything goes well and I have an easy recovery.

Bone Infection?

Two weeks after my surgery I had a follow up appointment with my neurologist. I was so excited to get my staples out and finally be able to wash my hair! He removed the wrap from my head and had just started to take a few staples out when I felt something dripping on my neck. He immediately said "Hold on. I'll be right back." I had a feeling that this was not good news. In the meantime my mom and I were trying to figure out what the liquid was that I felt on my neck. It was brown and didn't smell the greatest. A few minutes later my neurologist came back in and said he had just paged the neurosurgeon because it was clear I had an infection. I thought okay....infection. They're going to give me some antibotics and it will clear up. I can deal with that. My neurosurgeon walked in and looked at the back of my head. Yep....infected. He said:  "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we can treat your infection through IV antibiotics for a couple of weeks. The bad news is that we're going to have to admit you tomorrow for surgery to remove the bone flap due to the infection."

I just went through 6+ hours of brain surgery and now I was going back into surgery. Yikes. And there was more bad news....it was a two surgery process. First to remove the bone flap, insert a picc line and be on IV antibiotics for 4-6 weeks. I would have to let the area heal without anything protecting the open part of my skull (the size of half dollar). And second surgery would be at the beginning of December to put in titanium mesh and bone cement.

Three surgeries in 6 months and I didn't have a choice. It had to be done.

We left the doctors office and called my father and a few close friends to fill them in on the news. Back to the hospital in morning!