When are we going home?

We are ready to go home.. Callie is not sure if she wants to yet. Of course she needs to make sure she has seen all of her favorite nurses before we go home. Monday night she was taken off all oxygen and did fairly well until this afternoon. She was put back on oxygen. Just a small amount, but another small set back. We want her to come home so bad, but her safety is much more important. It is hard running back and forth and not spending much time with Zak and little to none with Chris. Every time I get my hopes up we are going home her stats (oxygen levels) drop the slightest. The doctors talked to us tonight about everything. We now have a feeding plan in place and it has been communicated to our general pediatrician. I had to laugh. The surgeon (who is filling in from another hospital and does not know us at all) thought we might be a bit aggressive on the feeds. The ICU doctor thinks we are fine and since she is monitored in the ICU wants to push her a little. After all the goal is to gain weight! It is possible she is just so full everything is pushing on her tummy and that is why her stats are dropping. All of her tests come back fine which is a really good sign. We finally got oxygen ordered to Have at home.. I am so excited! No, I don't want her to be on oxygen obviously, but to have it as a back up and know we are fully prepared if either one of the kids stats drop.
It has been busy the last 2 days at the hospital. They have been full in the PICU which means the nurses are very busy. We had neurology in to do a follow up and make sure everything is good, ENT stopped for a post surgical visit and our Pastor came to visit! We had a great visit... thanks for stopping by!
Chris and I are both holding up as best as we can. We still are rotating shifts every 24 hours or so. Trying to work, take care of Zak and be at the hospital for Callie. It truly is a juggling act. We all do what is necessary for our family and children though.
Finally off to bed for a few hours anyway.

Surgery is a Success!

Callie had her surgery today. We were up at 4am to be in Marshfield for a 6:15 check in. The neurosurgeon put in a shunt since her first surgery did not work. The original surgery was an attempt to make the natural drain a little larger so the fluid would drain on its own. After our MRI on Friday it was determined the fluid was the same as the last MRI (prior to her previous surgery.) Putting in the shunt was our only option at this point. She has internal tubing that runs just under her skin from her brain to her abdomen. It just feels like a vain under her skin. They used a shunt that has a valve that can be set externally. Any time she would have an MRI it would just need to be reset. We pray this will work. We will always have to watch for infection or blockage of the shunt since it is hardware, however it does not sound like it is extremely common.

One of our Pastors came to visit us this morning while we were waiting for the surgery to be finished. It provided a nice distraction from our typical wait. It was very calming to have him here and say a prayer for Callie and our family. We cannot say enough great things about our Pastors and congregation for the support and prayers for our family.

Once surgery was completed we went to recovery to be with Callie. She was doing well and was admitted to the main Pediatrics floor. She has been sleeping most of the day with a few fussy periods. When she cries the surgical site on the top of her head bleeds more. They are watching it closely. She really has not ate all day. We are hoping that will increase by morning and we can go home tomorrow.

Also, Zak will be getting an x-ray on his ankle tomorrow. We were doing his normal routine stretching and we heard a pop in his ankle. He does not want to stretch it, stand on it or even have it touched. The doctors thought it would be best to have an x-ray just to rule out things. Hopefully it is just a matter of time and it will feel better.