On Deck to Go Home - Fri 8:30am

Well it looks like we are headed home today, probably sometime this afternoon. Yesterday when we met with Dr. Walker, (neurosurgeon) he reminded us that it is common for children to be released the day after shunt reinsertion. However, just the day before, Cole had several severe breath holding spells and he still seemed to be in pain whenever we repositioned him or moved or touched his head. So they let us stay another day.

Yesterday was a good day. No serious breath holding spells and the pain seemed to be much more reduced. We have been moving him much slower and having him help us with repositioning by using the weight and position of his arms and legs to facilitate the moves. This seems to be helping. Yesterday his right eye was even more swollen again, which they said was due to the position he was in during the shunt surgery. (It looked pretty nasty and we were secretly worried about an eye infection, which was another reason we wanted to wait another day before discharging from the hospital). Also, we learned yesterday that Cole will be wearing a helmet for at least a month to help maintain his head safety and to maintain all the beautiful work of the plastic surgeons. We go in Monday to have his head scanned for the helmet. Yesterday was also a day of visitors. Tami (Cole's Birth Mom) and her family came up to visit Cole. They love him so much and always bring him the best gifts and toys. We also had visits by Grandma Jackie and Grandpa Keith and also from Brian from Teri's work.

This morning we woke up to the Neurosurgery residents making their rounds. The swelling in Cole's right eye has gone down quite a bit and he has both his eyes open. Before we came into the hospital, our Vision Specialist brought a mylar balloon for Cole to play with and it was a big hit. So the last few days, including this morning, we have been putting the balloon string in Cole's hand and he swings that balloon around, watches it with intense interest and smacks it against the bed rails. He loves it. The balloons came with an adorable bear from Teri's team at work. He is so much more chatty and happy the last 2 days. He smiles when we talk to him and laughs at Patty Cake. His hair is growing very fast and we wouldn't be surprised if the surgeons have to search for the stitches in a week.

Once again, thank you so much to everyone for all of your support, good thoughts and prayers. We are so blessed. And we are so grateful to Heavenly Father for allowing us each wonderful moment with our precious boy. God bless all of you.