Shunt Placement Surgery

The surgery went great!

Ben and I had Natalie at the hospital at 5:30 this morning.  We had a lot of waiting around to do while things got lined up, but they took her at 7:30 back to be sedated.  Ben and I kept ourselves occupied in the waiting room and they came and got us right around 9 and said everything went smoothly.  We got to go to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit right away to see her.  She was still a little bit sedated, but seemed comfortable.  

She has about an inch and a half long C shaped scar about 2 inches behind her ear, and a half inch or so little scar on her belly right below her rib cage.  The shunt is so small, there's barely a bump on her head.  She looks really great.  They shaved almost the whole right side of her head.  She still looks beautiful, though.  The nurses all like to come coo over her.

The neurosurgeon came back this afternoon and looked over her, and he said everything looks great.  I just talked to the nurse at the PICU and she said Natalie ate well tonight and is sleeping soundly.

Lauren got to come to the hospital to visit with Natalie and she was charming everyone.  She had a long conversation with the doctor about dragon tales and dress up and her new shoes.  Lissa crocheted an adorable pink hat for Natalie today.  I think we may ask her to make a lot of little hats for Natalie until her hair grows in.

So.... she's supposed to be released tomorrow morning.  She's scheduled to have a CT scan and an x-ray at 5 am tomorrow and then the neurosurgeon will have to sign off to release her.  

I'm sitting here tonight feeling really relieved that this surgery is over.  And I'm very happily surprised with how little her shunt stands out.  This is one big step that is over and done with and in a few months we'll bring her back for the surgery on her tethered spinal cord and to remove the two tumors.  But we'll handle that when we get to it.  Right now I'm just looking forward to bringing her home and going about our day to day lives for a while.