On the mend

As you may have read from my last post, Tyler hasn't been feeling good. We thought it was just the stomach bug. However if you have a non-verbal child with a shunt, your first thought is 'Is it the shunt?' and since he can't tell you if his head hurts you have to wonder. The signs of a shunt malfunction are the same signs of the flu; vomiting, lethargic, etc. So you begin to play the guessing game. Do you take him to the hospital that specializes in his shunt (which is 2 hours away) or do you just stick it out at home and let the bug run it's course. Well we stuck it out at home for most of it until today and Tyler seemed to get a little better. He isn't vomiting anymore but he is still very weak and not acting quite like himself. We figured after being sick for an entire week, it would take him awhile to get his strength back. But we decided it would be best to double check his shunt. We were nearing his yearly check-up with his neurosurgeon anyways.

The good news is his shunt is still working great! I even snapped a few pictures of today's scan and previous scans.

 

The black area are his ventricles where the fluid is built up. His brain has really started to "fluff" out and should cover the entire area like the image below. I really wish I could have got a picture of his original scan at birth, but the computer was acting up and it wouldn't pull up.There was so much pressure on his brain at birth that it was pencil thin all around his skull and you could barely see any brain matter.

 

Picture of a normal brain

I know this may sound strange, but I am thankful that this was just a stomach virus.

Not Feeling So Well

The stomach bug has hit Tyler like a brick wall. He started throwing up last Saturday and wasn't able to keep anything down. Sunday was much better. He was eating and drinking with no problems. So Monday came along and we sent him off to school. Well that didn't last long, the school nurse called me at work and said he has thrown up multiple times and has had diarrhea. So back home we went. Tuesday and Wednesday, the vomiting decreased a little but he still had diarrhea. Late Wednesday morning, he refused to eat or drink anything. I was trying everything from water, juice, Sprite, Gatorade, popsicles. But he would just clench his jaw down and refused to open his mouth and shake his head back and forth. He was really pale and weak. And for the size Tyler is, he can't afford to not eat or drink for very long. We were worried he was getting dehydrated, so we headed to the hospital. We spent the next 6 hours in the E.R. getting fluids. Luckily the doctors didn't think that he was bad enough to observe him overnight, so they discharged us. He has perked up a little but still not feeling up to par. But hopefully we are on the downward slide of things and he can get back to his goofy self.

 

 I was some what surprised how quick our hospital trip was. We got in and out of there in a timely manner and the nurses and doctors were great. We usually don't have good experiences with our local hospital but I have to say they did it right this time. The doctor was very informative and had great bed side manners. And the nurses were extremely nice and comforting as they were were getting an IV started. It still took 2 nurses and 6 sticks to get one, but we have had much worse experiences.

Kenna - 5 months old

Wow, what a month! Kenna is growing so fast. This past month she has learned to roll over (both ways). It may be time to start thinking about baby proofing the house, because it won't be long before she is all over the place.

She has also discovered her feet and likes to pull her socks off and chew on them.
She is becoming more and more vocal with her 'ooohs' and 'aaahs'. We have also started her on solid foods. So far, she has had cereal, squash and carrots. The carrots are definitely her favorite so far. I'm sure once we start the fruits, she will want to spit those veggies out.


But one of her favorite things to do now and the way she soothes herself to sleep is sucking her thumb.

Mr. Bear is starting to look a little smaller.

Kite Flying

What better way to spend a windy day than flying a kite. So that is how we spent our Sunday afternoon.