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Thursday, January 14, 2010

Getting Shunted...update

Another update - Landon did really well!  He is extubated (took an extra 1.5 hours) but he's only on nasal cannula and on 35% oxygen.  We're so proud of him!  They removed his resevoir and placed his shunt on the other side.  The Dr said he has a lot of tubing coiled in his belly so hopefully will not need many shunt revisions as he grows.  Praise God for a successful surgery!  His head already looks smaller and he looks great!  :)
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Update - Landon's surgery is rescheduled for 11am Thursday morning as the first case ended up being over 10 hours!  They gave him Tylenol tonight to help with his pain and it seemed to at least take the edge off.  I'll update tomorrow - it should take about 2 hours.  Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement!
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Landon's Hydrocephalus has been getting worse the last couple weeks, especially the last 3 days or so.  He has not been tapped (drawing 5cc of cerebral spinal fluid off his head through the resevoir) for about 3 weeks and his head circumfrance has been growing.  He was doing ok, draining the fluid correctly, then the fluid started building up and his ventricles were enlarging, causing his head to enlarge.  Thankfully this is happening while his skull is still forming and he has room to grow and not have as much pressure.  The last couple days he has been really irritable, unable to be easily calmed and arching his back a lot more.  He just looks plain uncomfortable, and I feel so bad for him!  When he sneezes, he cries right after, like he's got a pressure headache.  He probably does!  Well, he had a cranial ultrasound Monday (as usual, every Monday) and it showed, yet again his ventricles had enlarged and Neurosurgery saw how he was acting and decided this was the right time for the Ventriculoperitoneal shunt.  We waited until around 11pm to sign consent for the surgery and find out what time he actualy will go back.  He was supposed to be first case (around 7:30am), but an emergency case bumped his.  That's ok with me!  If  I was in that situation, I'd want someone more critical to be in line first.  It's good news that Landon wasn't critical.  His surgery will be at 3:30pm now.  So, I'll update after surgery!  Thanks for all your continued prayers!

8 comments:

jag said...

Prayers for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery!

Rebecca said...

will be praying for precious landon!

Britt said...

waiting for the update....

The Denby's said...

So sorry I couldn't get on earlier but we have been praying all day and will continue thru out the night.
You must be able to feel God's Love and the love of everyone that is aware of your beautiful, faithful family, even in the smallest way. You are all remarkable!

The Paulk's said...

We're praying for him this morning as he goes in for surgery!

The Denby's said...

Dear Lord,
Thank you for the yet another good outcome and continue to hold this family in Your Hands.
Amen

Rebecca said...

so glad to hear the surgery went well!!

Mary said...

Landon - We are so happy to hear the surgery went so well. We are praying for you and your sister and brother to keep getting bigger and stronger!!

Blessings,

Mary