He’s sprung a leak!

Yesterday was a follow-up appointment with The Neurosurgeon to remove the stitches from Greg’s head and chest. We noticed that the incision where the pressure monitor was had some gunk on it, but we figured it was from the ointment they had him apply to it. Well, it turns out that that was not only ointment, but ointment and cerebral spinal fluid. Apparently his head didn’t totally seal itself up like it does in most patients. The Neurosurgeon’s nurse and a physician’s assistant applied glue to his head and gave us orders that if it starts leaking anything (blood, clear fluid) to drop everything and immediately go to the emergency room. At the hospital where The Neurosurgeon works. A four hour drive (one way) away.

So far it hasn’t leaked since they glued it up and God willing it won’t.

We did learn that Greg’s ventricles are essentially frozen and therefore CT scans to check for pressure issues are useless. The only way for The Neurosurgeon to check head pressure is to install another pressure monitor (aka more ICU time) or slice open the shunt catheter and see how it’s flowing (also, more ICU time). So that’s kind of a bummer deal but at least we know.

The angiogram to check for more aneurysms has been scheduled for the middle of September. And then we go back again in November for a shunt follow-up. Although if the angiogram shows any aneurysms, our stay in September will be immediately lengthened so they can be removed.

Since yesterday’s appointment went way long for head-gluing needs, we decided (as we rolled into town around 10pm) that in the future, we’ll just stay the night and leave way early the next day. We didn’t have any issues, but there’s a stretch of two-lane highway that’s bad enough to travel in the day, let alone the night. Not to mention it’ll be Fall/Winter and traveling will take longer.

So today is a recovery day – Elise slept in and Benedict is taking a gigantic nap. I’m trying to get my way through all the laundry that I didn’t get to before Wednesday and unload the van. Although I’m thinking that can wait and I should take a nap instead ….