Surgery tomorrow

Hi to all of you faithful Madeline fans!

Well, here we go! Obviously Maddy didn't realize that it's Thanksgiving Week or she may have chosen better timing to cop a shunt malfunction, but oh well. Maybe the hospital cafeteria will serve turkey! :D

Over the last few weeks, Maddy began to exhibit some signs of shunt malfunction, but over the last week, she began changing very quickly, especially with the very full fontanelle, fever, gap in the suture line, very prominant scalp veins and the onset of "Sunset eyes" (downward deviation), indicating a shunt malfunction. I took her to Dr. Tuchscherer today, and he took me very seriously (Thanks!) and sent her right away for a CT scan. Yup, hydrocephalus again (and aqueductal stenosis, possibly). So they have her scheduled for emergency surgery tomorrow to relieve the pressure, etc. We're praying for the typical one night stay for this type of surgery.

So I have the "joy" of sending my baby off to anesthesia again, much before I was ready to (I was hoping for the next time to be for her orthopedic surgery to correct her *adorable* clubbed feet).

I'm so thankful that Mom is here to help with Olivia and Carli, and I know that she's glad that she wasn't stuck in PA when this all went down. She's not going to have much of a Thanksgiving though.

Please keep us in your prayers. Obviously, the most important thing is that she get help immediately, but it sure is a downer to have to change our plans to get away to Kirk and Heather's for Thanksgiving weekend.

Ok, when I typed that I felt bad instantly, because I'm thinking of all the other little babies that have been in the hospital for months. Giana Grace was born the week after Maddy and is still in the hospital, with three little brothers waiting at home. We've been blessed to have no problems up to this point. So I'm thankful.....