Surgery Tomorrow

Tomorrow (Monday) is the big day.

Cayman will be taken to surgery to place her shunt back into her body.

In one sense we are greatly looking forward to this. Having her shunt externalized is stressful. We stand guard at her bedside whenever she is awake to be sure she's not tugging at it or her head dressing. It has not always been an easy task of preventing her from doing this sometimes. But isn't that beautiful to hear? I mean, she's feeling and acting that well to have spunk and curiosity...and even annoyance. She absolutely hates the head dressing. I don't blame her. That must feel just awful, hot, and itchy. I know she'll be much more comfortable once she can get that off.

On the other hand, we have big decisions to make with the doctors on where to replace the distal end of her shunt.

Putting it back into a vessel surrounding her heart (which is where it has been) is not ideal. It's a temporary site and will not grow with her resulting in the need for more shunt revisions in the future. And since it's within a blood vessel it poses a risk of developing blood clots.

The other option, which is to put it into her abdominal cavity, is the ideal situation because it is more permanent. They can coil extra tubing inside of her so that as she grows the tube stretches with her growing body. However, the last time the shunt was placed there (June of 2008) it failed within a couple days. There was a great amount of scar tissue in her abdomen from the belly surgery she had when she was a day old. The scar tissue prevented her body from absorbing the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) resulting in a plugged, failed shunt. So the shunt was replaced back into Cayman's heart with the goal that someday it would be put into her abdomen when she had grown enough to have more room in her tummy to accommodate the shunt around her scar tissue.

So the big question now is, has Cayman grown enough for it to be a successful site for her shunt to be placed there?

And that's where we greatly covet your prayers for tomorrow.

We haven't heard what time Cayman will be taken to surgery but we will do our best to post updates.

I feel as though I must sound redundant, like a broken record, when I say thank you. The multitude of prayers have been tremendous. God is truly carrying us and you are helping this time to be so much easier for us. So with great heartfelt emotion, I thank you again! I'm storing up so many hugs, wanting to embrace you all for the support you have given our family.

I pray for God's greatest blessings to be on you.

And here's a clip-it of Little Miss Busy Hands in mild action...