When the world stops turning

Today is the one year anniversary of one of the biggest, scariest, saddest, happiest, life changing moments I've ever been through. One year ago today I found out I would be the new mommy of a baby boy, a special baby boy with spina bifida. I thought my world had ended, felt as though I couldn't breathe, couldn't live. It didn't end, but totally changed forever. I thank God every day for my little miracle, the happiest, sweetest, friendliest, cutest baby boy in the world. If I could take away his spina bifida and carry his sickness and sorrows I would, but I can't and I wouldn't trade him for any other "typical" or "normal" baby.

We spent this anniversary at ACH, with Grant having surgery on his new shunt. Sunday, October 3rd, a small spot on his scalp incision drained a little fluid after his early afternoon nap. A small spot on the end of the incision away from his shunt had scabbed over right after surgery and I guess it allowed bacteria in or kept it from healing properly. It was swollen up a little bit and the neurosurgery resident said to just take him to our PCP the next morning. By the next morning it was even more swollen, even down his neck, and very tender. I got off work after only being there a few hours thanks to the awesome nurses I work with that took over the care of my patients. I drove to Little Rock with Grandma in the back seat watching over Grant and distracting him from the pain he was feeling.

So we spent Sunday evening in the ER with Grant waiting for the neurosurgery resident to get there to look at the CT. He wasn't the brightest star in the sky. He kept pressing hard on the sore area and saying if he could just get it to drain fluid he would be able to put a suture in it and we could go home. Thankfully, the attending new better without even seeing Grant. He has been getting IV antibiotics and ointment on the infected area. The first night after putting on the ointment it drained a bunch of blood and pus. Today Grant went to surgery again for exploration of the wound and possible shunt revision. He went back at 9:15am, and they got him prepped, a new IV in and started with surgery by 9:45am. We got a call in the surgery waiting room at 10:00am saying they were finished and the doctor would be out soon to see us. Praise the Lord it was just a wound/stitch infection. There was no tunneling under the skin towards the location where the tube enters the skull and the doc didn't want to tap his shunt to prevent introducing bacteria into the shunt. The Lord truly answers prayers.

We will hopefully be going home soon.