Charlotte-born evangelist Billy Graham, 89, underwent a 28-minute operation today to update the valve for a shunt that regulates pressure in his brain, according to a statement from Mission Hospitals in Asheville.
“He was bright and alert and conscious immediately after the surgery and called me by name,” said Dr. Ralph Loomis.
At the hospital 20 minutes from Graham’s Montreat home, Loomis, an Asheville neurosurgeon, replaced the former valve with a new model — an “externally programmable computer valve” — that was not available at the time the shunt was implanted in 2000.
Graham, who has been now been admitted to the Asheville hospital for the second time in less than a year, was listed in fair condition Wednesday evening. The frail, elderly Graham is expected to remain in the hospital “for a minimum of several days” to allow for programming and regulating of the new valve.
In August 2007, Graham spent two weeks at Mission Hospitals after a bout of intestinal bleeding. During that stay, doctors cauterized the bleeding in his colon.
1 Comment
During that stay, doctors cauterized the bleeding in his colon.
TMI