Waiting to be called back to surgery this morning....not feeling too well.
Really not feeling well....they closed off the drain to open the ventricles in her brain for the surgery and it made nausea terrible! It was great to be able to snuggle though!She is out of surgery and back in her room! Dr. Shafron was able to completely remove both shunts and tubing, has inserted a temporary external drain, and stitched up her tummy from Wednesday's surgery. We did find out that she was infected with a common skin infection that most of us carry without knowing it. People are often infected and having the shunts was not the issue. It is called spontaneous peritonitis. It was a staph pneumonia they said. She is not more susceptible now, but we are assuming this means she carries the strain on her skin. Will have to investigate further.
We were concerned that because one of the shunts was not being actively used it may be permanently stuck inside, and removing it may have caused some damage. Dr. Shafron was happy to report that it came out and he had no difficulty and there was no bleeding! Fantastic!!!!
She will be externalized for about 10 days, and has surgery scheduled for Monday the 15th to have ONE shunt placed back in! This is also Fantastic News! :)
Below is a picture of our baby girl.....just back in the room. She is on oxygen to get all the yucky stuff out, the orange tube is the drain. It comes out just above her left ear and runs to a contraption to measure the fluid. She also has a yellow tube from her nose, taped to her face. This is an NG tube, and will deliver a slow drip of nutrients at night while she is asleep. She has always been petite, but they are concerned that this illness has caused almost a month of not eating properly and this will help build her back up. She was NOT happy about that tube even though she was groggy she fought it hard. That was hard to watch, and harder to have to hold her hands down so she couldn't rip it out.
She has her white bandages and those are where the shunts were and the drain for a few days. It is the strangest feeling....to rub her little head and not feel the shunts. They have been there for so long it just doesn't feel right! As she gets better over the next few days we will show you all what a TERRIBLE hairdresser our wonderful doctor is! We love him though!
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers and check back for updates daily with new pictures!
Vicky
Sleepy Baby Girl