Back and Forth

On Tuesday, Adam came back to NewYork-Presbyterian to have an MRI and to have a shunt put in to drain the bubble under his scalp. It’s done wonders for his looks (sorry, I don't have a picture right now).

The MRI looked fine; the doctors say he’s doing great and they expect him to have a really strong recovery.

He had the shunt put in Thursday afternoon. It is a bit of tubing (with an anti-siphon valve) that runs from under his scalp (but outside of his skull) down to his abdomen, running just under his skin the whole way. It drains excess fluid, but it’s my understanding that when his surgical wounds fully heal, it will then be idle, as its source is outside of the skull. Putting it in was just a 20 minute operation.

As of Friday morning, he was cleared to leave NYP to return to the Rusk Institute and get his therapy restarted, but we ran into a bureaucratic foul-up; NYP & Rusk wasted the whole day not getting their act together, so we’re still in NYP’s pediatric wing as of Friday night. Last time we went to Rusk, we wasted two days on admitting and insurance paperwork and on actually getting over there. Right now, I fear we’ll repeat that experience, and not get therapy restarted until Wednesday; however, we’re trying to do all we can (with the help of some friends) to get down there over the weekend and get him going on Monday.

Adam is doing well; he seems more comfortable and he’s smiling a lot more. He apparently spent the day asking for pizza; it’s great to have him that engaged & expressive. His doctors all seem to be very happy with his recovery, and we’re hopeful as well.