January 2004
CT & MRI scans, and ICPM (intra-cranial pressure monitoring) throughout 2003 revealed that the pressure in Michael's head was up again. His ventricles were squashed. No fluid could be drawn from the reservoir in his shunt. Part of his cerebellum tonsil was pushed down into his (small and tight) foramen magnum in his neck.
The doctors hoped to advance Michael's mid face at the same time as his forehead, by a distraction process where a frame is used to pull the healing bones of the skull apart 1 millimete a day. New bone is formed as the bloody tissue in the not-allowed-to-set wound calcifies.
A mid-face advancement would have further increased the brain space, offered protection for Michael's eyes, improved airway space and bite, and it might have let the bit of brain in his neck suck itself back up into its proper place.
Eyes, skull, mouth, heart... everything was monitored, measured, pictured and recorded, both pre- and post-op.
