Author Topic: Billy Graham in Fair Condition After Brain Surgery  (Read 3280 times)

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Offline Chris_

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Billy Graham in Fair Condition After Brain Surgery
« on: February 13, 2008, 06:37:50 PM »
Billy Graham in Fair Condition After Brain Surgery

ASHEVILLE, N.C. —  World-renown evangelist Billy Graham is hospitalized in fair condition after a successful surgery to update a shunt in his brain.

Doctors said the 89-year-old Graham was talking immediately after the short surgery performed Wednesday at Mission Hospitals near his home in nearby Montreat.

Graham has hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid within the brain. The surgery replaced the value in a shunt installed in 2000 that drains excessive fluid from Graham's brain through a small tube.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330627,00.html


I had no idea Mr. Graham had hydrocephalus.  I'm glad he is doing well.

Replacing a shunt is a fairly simple procedure.  The pump is placed under the scalp with a catheter inserted into the skull through a small hole which heals after a few weeks.  It's fairly painless; I was awake and alert immediately after my last shunt placement with the usual soreness that comes with stitches.
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Offline BEG

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Re: Billy Graham in Fair Condition After Brain Surgery
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2008, 06:44:42 PM »
Why did you have to have a shunt Chris?

Offline Rebel

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Re: Billy Graham in Fair Condition After Brain Surgery
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2008, 06:47:10 PM »
I thought he died a while back? :confused:
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Offline Chris_

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Re: Billy Graham in Fair Condition After Brain Surgery
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2008, 06:48:48 PM »
I have hydrocephalus.  I've had it since I was born, and had my last shunt replaced in 2003. 

They've made it smaller, and moved it from the back of the head behind the right ear to the top of the head where it's less obtrusive.

   

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Offline Chris_

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Re: Billy Graham in Fair Condition After Brain Surgery
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2008, 06:50:06 PM »
I thought he died a while back? :confused:

His wife died a couple years ago.

CBN plays his sermons on weekdays.  They're nice to listen to.
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Offline BEG

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Re: Billy Graham in Fair Condition After Brain Surgery
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2008, 06:55:53 PM »
I have hydrocephalus.  I've had it since I was born, and had my last shunt replaced in 2003. 

They've made it smaller, and moved it from the back of the head behind the right ear to the top of the head where it's less obtrusive.

   



Wow, I didn't know that. 

Offline Chris_

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Re: Billy Graham in Fair Condition After Brain Surgery
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2008, 07:05:24 PM »
I have hydrocephalus.  I've had it since I was born, and had my last shunt replaced in 2003. 

They've made it smaller, and moved it from the back of the head behind the right ear to the top of the head where it's less obtrusive.





I did not know that.   :o
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Offline Chris_

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Re: Billy Graham in Fair Condition After Brain Surgery
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2008, 07:13:51 PM »
Mark Jones Relief Foundation    

http://mjrf.org/2.html

In September of 2005 Mark was diagnosed with a five-centimeter acoustic neuroma on the right side of his head. An acoustic neuroma is a benign, slow growth tumor of the balance nerve. Needing surgery, Mark returned to his family’s home in Indiana and to the IU Medical Center.  In Indiana Mark had a total of five surgeries in order to remove the tumor and to correct related problems. The first brain surgery was complicated by the tumor’s size and complexity. The surgeons worked on him for nine hours. Two days after the first major surgery he was taken back to the operating room for another six hour procedure to install a VP shunt. Mark’s VP shunt is a tube that runs from inside his brain, under the skin behind his left ear, across his clavicle, down the chest, and into his abdominal cavity.  It was placed in order to properly drain pressure due to the build up of spinal fluid in the skull.

The Mark Jones Relief Foundation was started in response to the situation Mark found himself in after the surgeries. With only $50,000 of medical coverage, Mark was himself responsible for over $200,000 in medical bills! He also wanted to lead by example and tough out the triathlon and show people that anything is possible even after three brain surgeries.




I sent some money to this young man's family after I found this website.  It was the least I could do for using his picture to illustrate the same problems I have lived with.  I had major surgery in 1983 to replace the drainage tube that runs from the head to the large intestine.  At that time, the surgery was over $100,000.
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Offline SilverOrchid

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Re: Billy Graham in Fair Condition After Brain Surgery
« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2008, 07:15:43 PM »
I got saved at one of his Crusades, the one shortly after 9/11. What an awesome man of God, glad he is doing well.