Post Op Appointment Update - Prayer Time

Today wasn't a great day. Anna has had swelling on the left side of her head (incision site) on and off this week, but we didn't worry too much. She seemed happy (with fussiness mixed in from time to time), eating well, playful, she tolerated PT/OT on Wed., etc...Today was her surgical post op appointment to get the dates for her to return to normal activities, i.e. school. Well, her head was swollen at her appointment and they sent us for a head CT and then we returned to the surgeons office. The surgeon was paged and I was told that not only are we seeing swelling on the outside of her head, but her left ventricle is enlarged, larger than the pictures (CT, MRI) from when we were in the hospital. They asked if I would stay to see the head surgeon who was in a meeting. I waited 3 hours with Anna getting fussier and fussier. It was now past 3:00 (I had been there since 11:45) and still no surgeon. I ended up leaving to go home and asked them just to have him call me. Just when I was half way home, they called and asked me to come back. The surgeon wanted to pump her shunt and reprogram the drain (all external stuff). He explained that if this didn't work over the weekend, that he would need to move the shunt to a space near her lungs that would help push the fluid down faster with her breathing and the compression from her lungs. I can't quite explain it as well as he did, but it made sense. He was very compassionate and doesn't want to do surgery again if he doesn't have to. As my Mom said, it's knee time, so all my praying friends help us out and pray that Anna's left ventricle is relieved from the fluid that is causing pressure.

I finally got home around 5:30 (from a 12:00 appointment). We are scheduled to go back Monday for another CT.

Love, Rebecca