I am the mother of a little boy who (as of yesterday was a month old) has hydrocephalus. He was born at 33 weeks and due to his prematurity, had an intraventricular bleed which caused the hydrocephalus. He had a temporary reservoir placed two weeks ago and have been tapping it and draining it every morning. He was finally big enough for a shunt and scheduled to have it placed tomorrow morning. Each time they drain the fluid, they send it to the lab for a culture. Unfortunately, today they found a bacterial infection in it. His surgery is not postponed until the infection is gone. If it does not clear up after three days of antibiotics, he must undergo 21 days of a stronger antibiotic and then he would be able to have surgery. My heart is broken for him as it seems like he cannot catch a break. Has anyone experienced anything like this? I am so scared for him that it is meningitis and that it will do major damage. I am so new to this and would like to know how "normal" this is.