Skip to main content

Bada Bing!

Bada Boom. The 'Hitch gets things done. Leo is going in for surgery tomorrow at 10:00. We decided on least invasive measures first, so he will be getting his shunt revised. They will switch out the valves, changing his meduim flow valve to an adjustible one. Also during the surgery they will check that all the other parts of the shunt are working as they should be. The idea is that with the magnetic valve they will be able to adjust it as needed according to his fluid pressure. The medium flow valve just doesn't drain fast enough to keep up with his CSF production. He makes about 200cc of fluid a day. That's like one can of cola!!!

He'll have to spend the night in the PICU, but if all goes as planned we should be able to go home Thursday. A little tense tonight at the homestead, though in the great scheme of things this is a pretty easy and routine surgery. Well, we trust the surgeons and we trust in the strength and resiliency of our little guy. Hopefully he won't have to have any other major procedures for a good long while.

 Here's big sis and little bro enjoying that glorious fall day we had not too long ago.

 Notice his lion blankie. Thanks John and Laura, you guys are too cute......

Comments

  1. Prayers and good thoughts headed your way! We love you guys!

    Nicki and Dusty

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a lovely peaceful picture of nature and also of the nature of human cubs! May the Lord God bless and ease your day tomorrow! See U!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Leo is a champion at overcoming obstacles!We pray that he will sail through this one as well. Gods protection and blessings for tomorrow!
    Lots of love.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thinking of you guys. What a sweetie he is.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love and prayers and more love and prayers. What beautiful pictures. So full of light and love, just like your family. May God grant you all strength tomorrow. We are praying for Leo's successful surgery.

    xoxo
    Carrs

    ReplyDelete
  6. Also love the photo above. Very Tranquil. Know that All your supports and prayers from us all will help hold you both up, tomorrow, and may God Bless the surgeons hands who care for our little warrior, Leo. Love to you all

    ReplyDelete
  7. Go Leo! Love and prayers for you all.

    The Coxes

    ReplyDelete
  8. Keeping you in our prayers and hoping everything went well.

    ReplyDelete
  9. So glad to hear from Joann that Leo pulled through the surgery today! We'll continue to pray, of course, that this new valve will do the job. And, by the way, both photos are adorable. Much love, K&D

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

With Mixed Feelings

So for the past couple weeks my feed has been filled with the "back to school" and "end of summer" and "beginning of parental freedom from their annoying offspring" photos. It's ok, I totally get it. Another year, another back to school pic, another notch in the door jamb, and another chapter of growth and development with junior. Look at him go! Or not, as the case may be for many children. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease control and Prevention) one in six children has one...a developmental disability. A stamp of "not normal" across their foreheads. A number. A check mark in a box. My kid is one of them. I heard a brief segment on NPR that enticingly started out with the title of developmental delays on the rise, a 17% increase over the last twelve years. And though I turned up the volume the segment only talked about how it's probably only due to poverty, and it's only the upper classes that actually pursue diagnosis...

Kinda Like 'Nam.

First off, sorry about the disjointed nature of the posting from yesterday. I was updating via text messegaing from my phone and because the service is patchy in the hospital not only were the posts chopped up but they were frequently out of order. You have to be a sleuth to figure it out. On the other hand, I guess it was a direct reflection of what we were experiencing! Between getting little bits of info and there, we had no clue what was going on. This is what we have been able to piece together since yesterday. The surgery itself was a definite success, though there were a few surprises. One of which being that when they took out Leo's shunt of 8 months they discovered that it was not working. Huh??? He never showed any symptoms of shunt failure and brain compression, so what the heck? In between the sobering list of items now holding risks for our guy, the nuero surgeon dropped this little bombshell on us. Does that ...

Leo Lessons Part 1.

It's almost like Justin and I are stuck in this super advanced parenting class where Leo is the teacher, and our life is the classroom. Before Leo we thought we had credit we could transfer in from our previous baby/kid class, but we have found out that our old credits aren't applicable. Now we are in the crash course like it or not, and failing isn't an option. So we try not to sweat bullets and handle each new assignment he gives us with optimism. On our good days anyway. On our bad days, at least we have the notes we kept from previous successes to console ourselves with. Sometimes it helps.