Shunts are Not For Whimps, II

Thanks again to everyone's good thoughts and sweet prayers - we're still seeing the good signs of a successful surgery. They internalized his new shunt (on the left side this time - got to find an area on his little head without sutures) so now he has matching incisions on the left side of his little body (behind his ear where they start fishing the tube, and to the left of his belly buttonwhere they check the tube for placement! 

     Recovery is and has always been a little rough - but we're all trying to manage through it. He's, as you can imagine, in a fair amount of pain - it is after all brain surgery. They gave him some lortab which does provide some relief, although it has (and did today) cause periods of apnea (where he stops breathing). Early in our stay we spoke with a pediatrician about his apnea (he had four episodes the first two days we were here). They ran a number of tests looking for deficiencies in iron, for example. All of the tests came back negative. They suggested it could be an over-active vegal (vegas - ?) nerve which can, in some children, cause them to black out when they get to excited or too aggravated. Apparently they will eventually grow out of it - and usually once they 'pass out' they resume breathing, which is good.

He's just starting to eat a little by bottle - mostly still just tube feeding - too tired. We're hoping we see some improvement once we start reducing all of the antibiotics that tend to irritate his tummy. Which, as you can imagine does wonders for his reflux. They will run a few additional tests on Thu and pending success - they anticipate sending us home. We're hoping for Thu but planning on Fri - just in case. We're all grateful to have so many people who love him and us and are praying for him. We can't wait to get back home and back into our routine. It's miserable walking by his swing and bed and seeing it empty. Ellie, his pal, sniffs around his bed and bouncy chair looking for him. The others are just feeling neglected. It's been just overtwo weeks since we arrived and as wonderful as the nurses and medical professionals are, we're ready to be back home.We've included some new pictures - hopefully nothing too gruesome this time (everything is covered with band aids!).