Shunt Surgery

God is very good. We haven't been hospitalized since last November and haven't had an major issues other than seizures since then. So we are very thankful for that. We knew, however, that sooner or later her shunt could malfunction. And that's what's occurred in the past few days.

Hadassah's head circumference has been going up and has caused some concern in the past. But she hasn't really shown any other signs of a malfunction. Yesterday Kate brought her in for a routine EEG and consultation. They were once again concerned at her head size and the EEG revealed that part of her brain had limited activity possibly due to a shunt malfunction.

Neurosurgery agreed and did a CT scan to check. It was confirmed and so they decided to do surgery this morning at 730am. Overnight they were a bit concerned at her heart rate...she kept dropping into the 50s while sleeping. She is a very deep sleeper and I tried to wake her up some...every time I did her heart rate would bump up into the 80s....which is where a child at her age should be. But then she would immediately drop again. They assumed this a symptom of the pressure on her brain.

Surgery went well this morning. The two lines that come off of the shunt that drain fluid were clogged hence the head growth. Nothing was draining. So they replaced that and said we would wait til tomorrow to go home.

Their only concern now is that her heart rate hasn't improved much. It was in the 70s for a while but dipped into the 50s between 1 and 3. So they did another CT scan just to double check. Neurosurgery took a look and they didn't seem too concerned that it was another shunt issue.

So we are currently waiting to see what the blood work shows. It could be that something else is out of whack, or this could simply just be Haddie. She likes to mess with doctors and confuse them.

We are going to stay overnight and see where we are in the morning. Like I said, God is good. Every day we pray that God will bless her, keep her, and give her peace...and often we pray that he will continually heal her. Perhaps this is His way of doing just that.

We will update again once we know what's happening. Thanks!