Nuno's Page
The story of Nuno Tomás Picado
My
name is Maria João and I am from Portugal. Nuno’s birth was planed so
I started taking folic acid two months before getting pregnant. I did an
amniocentesis at 13 weeks of pregnancy and it showed a high alpha-fetoprotein
(AFP - 6). I had two ultrasounds but the doctor couldn’t find any thing
wrong with the baby. At 36 weeks of pregnancy I did another ultrasound and the
doctor discovered a sacral meningocele. The C-section was planned for a
week after this day and Nuno was born on the 18th March 1997
with a sacro lumbar myelomeningocoele, covered with a membrane, which broke
at birth. One day after his birth Nuno was admitted for surgery to close his
back by Dr. José Miguéns at Santa Maria Hospital and 10 days after the
first surgery, he had a second one by the same surgeon, to put a shunt, because
the back wasn’t closing. (He never developed hydrocephalus). After 47 days the
back finally closed and Nuno came home.
He does not urinate very much neither is it very strong, but he can empty his bladder enough and it is not necessary to cath him.
He has no kidney reflux. He takes trimetroprim daily. In 3 years he had 3 infections. The bowel works normally: he evacuates daily without any help.
He did a CAT scan March 1998 (one year after the surgery) and it showed that the shunt became short and came out of the ventricles but Nuno didn’t develop hydrocephalus and the ventricles were small as usual.
After this CAT scan he had 4 MRI's and they show the same: the shunt is out of the ventricles but Nuno didn’t develop hydrocephalus. That's why the surgeon thinks that it's not necessary to change the shunt.
The MRI
shows also malformative anomalies related to the presence of Arnold Chiari
malformation type II, but without symptoms.
Nuno moves his legs well but not the feet or the toes. He does physiotherapy, uses braces and a walker. Now he walks very well with the help of the walker and he can stand alone without any support. He walks about 10 steps without any support, but is very afraid.
Want to e-mail his mom? Maria João
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