Curves

Yesterday was a sweet day.  We got to take Michael home and he had a wonderful homecoming.  Grandma, Tim and the kids made "welcome home" signs and taped them to the garage door, and picked up some cute balloons and beautiful purple tulips for the occasion.  Mom and Tim also rearranged the beds and prepared Michael's.  Tim picked us up and drove us back to Fort Collins.  Everyone was so thrilled to see their brother again.  Whitney started singing Brahm's lullaby to him - her favorite thing to do with him.  Spencer patted his head, Sarah gave him kisses. 

Packed up and ready to leave the hospital

Michael rested peacefully while we waited to go home

Welcome home Mikey! 

It was so wonderful to be back home.  I missed the simple things like the smell of my very own house and the feel of my very own couch, and of course, my bed.  Tim went to fill Michael's prescriptions at our local pharmacy only to find out that most pharmacies don't have the ability to dispense blood pressure meds to an infant.  Tim and a pharmacist worked the phones all over northern Colorado and couldn't find anyone who could help us.  Mikey needed his meds by 9PM and it looked like he would have to go without them until the morning.  Miraculously, a Walgreen's in Loveland, about 1/2 hour away, called and said they could fill it for us just in time.  My mom and I picked it up and enjoyed the time to catch up.  Then the evening ended with Whitney puking all over Sarah's bed.  Never a dull moment around our house.  Tim and I cleaned it up together and I relished the normalcy of it all.  A little laundry, wiping, some juice and medicine and Whitney would be fine in the morning.  Then the night began, which was long and hard as Michael had a very difficult time sleeping.  I was expecting it, but that didn't take away from the exhaustion.  Thankfully, my mom and Tim took care of things so I could sleep in today.

The day took a slow pace and we enjoyed letting Mikey play with his familiar toys in a familiar environment.  In the afternoon, the physical therapist arrived and taught me how to help strengthen his neck and head.  As the session wrapped up, we noticed a little bit of wetness on the therapist's sleeve.  We were hoping it was just from his tears, but soon realized it wasn't.  It was Mikey's fluid from his head leaking through his incisions.  I called our neurosurgeon's nurse.  It wasn't good news.  She had called the hospital already.  We would have to return immediately and Michael would need surgery to re-insert the EVD tonight.  The leaking was a sign his ventricles were unable to drain properly on their own so he will receive a shunt within the next few days.  It was a pretty tough blow for all of us.

We put gauze on his head to catch the drips but they were soon soaked.  So instead we put a diaper on his head to catch the flow since it was one of the cleanest and most absorbant things we had around. 
He had another CT scan to check the ventricle flow and will be going in for surgery at 10:30 PM tonight.  We will be at Children's for a week or so.  Here we go around another curve.

Hanging out in the ER with the diaper hat

Another CT scan.  Diaper still in place

And isn't he so cute on daddy's shoulder