Well, it's true. If you read the article, you know that shunting technology has been around since the '40s, but it wasn't until the '60s that it really became a viable treatment for hydrocephalus. Those of us born between '62-'72 are the "First Generation" of shunted hydrocephalics to survive into adulthood with a reasonable quality of life. Until that point in time, hydrocephalic children rarely survived into their teens, and it was a very slow, excruciatingly painful death. I just turned 40 in January. I literally owe my life to the invention of the Spitz-Holter shunt.
I'm so glad for you that it was invented and developed. You're the only shunted person I know. Are there a lot of you who keep it private? Or is it quite rare?
Hydrocephalus is generally accepted to occur in 1 out of every 5000 live births. I don't know if they keep statistics on how often it happens as a result of TBI, or what the statistics are for NPH (a form of hydrocephalus which occurs in older people). In the US, that works out to around 68,000 cases of congenital hydrocephalus every year. The population of Houston is around 4 million ppl, which means there are maybe 58 other cases besides me living here right now. So yes, I'd agree with you that it's "quite rare
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