Going on 8 wks post op and pain has been at a minimum. Went for MRI of brain and cervical spine. Not even 4 hours later I get a call from my doctor saying I has fluid collection in my cervical area. Is this normal? Does this mean another surgery?
Let us know what your doc says. I read that feed with dr trumbal and that’s the first I’ve read about this area. A little worried about you, hope your case is a quick fix.
Hi Onesmind! I was one of the participants with that discussion with Dr. Trumble. It is worth noting that Dr. Trumble said anyone with a pseudomeningocele feels pretty awful and I can vouch for that. The large pseudo my daughter had caused bad headaches and nausea all day. Only the aggressive medical management that the doctors proposed finally helped and healed my daughter. Please dont be upset with some fluid at the cervical area, as my daughter has some residual fluid with absolutely no symptoms (they called it a decompressed pseudomeningocele). The surgeon said she may always have the fluid and as long as it causes no problems, it's ok. So my thinking is if you are feeling relatively well after 8 weeks, that the fluid may mean nothing at all. Your doctor should have answered these questions when he called you about the MRI findings. Please call your doctor and ask what he thinks. I would hope that if the fluid were a concerning finding, you would already have discussed it. Take care, JoAnne
Hello Onesmind,
A few months after my decompression I developed a large post operative pseudomeningocele. I didn’t even know it at the time and the doctor never discussed it with me. Just recently I’ve been reading all of my MRI reports and educating myself on my brain condition (which I should have done long ago. Surgery was 5years ago). Anyway, the MRI 2 months following stated that the pseudo had significantly improved and my symptoms were greatly diminishing. My doc was prob doing the wait and see if she complains of more pain type of thing. I’ve only had the one surgery and didn’t do anything about it. Had I known I had the thing at the time I probably would have freaked out about it. Hope this helps some.
Finally got a call around 6pm. Per the NS, I have nothing to worry about since I have no symptoms. He said since a duraplasty was done it may appear to others as if fluid is building up but in reality it is just “filling up like a balloon” to take pressure off the skull.
I was told if I start to experience any of the old symptoms or any new one then he will look into it further but based upon how I feel he is not concerned.
I hope I explained it correctly.
Phew!!!
Glad everything is ok! :)