A Mixed Month

The last few weeks have been a mixed bag for Carly.  After her shunt surgery she had an unsettled period as she recovered, but soon that led to some good days.  She was due for an MRI checkup to monitor her tumor, but as that day approached she had a respiratory issue that made the anesthesia team want to wait a few weeks for it to clear up.  As a precaution we asked for a chest X-ray to make sure everything looked ok, and sure enough Carly had another round of pneumonia.  It looked pretty serious on the film and they wanted Carly to stay overnight in the hospital, but with Christa's urging they were convinced to let us go home to observe her there while she started a long course of antibiotics.  After a few days she was doing much better, and our pediatrician thanked Christa for standing her ground, as that turned out to be the best thing for Carly.

Later in the month my parents came out to San Francisco for a visit and we all stayed at a beautiful house in Sausalito for a week.   Part way through the week Carly had one of the best days we have seen in months. She was all smiles, babbling, and interacting with anyone that would play with her which was great to see. As the week went on she began to become more restless during the night, and our sleep was interrupted a few times each night.  This has continued for most of the last week, and it is beginning to look like Carly's shunt may be having some problems.  We will see how she does this week, and neurosurgery will tap the shunt tomorrow to evaluate the protein level in her CSF and see if the tap makes her feel a bit better.

The best news recently came late last week.  Carly's MRI finally happened on Thursday and on Friday we got the results.  The tumor has shrunk to almost half its size since the last scan, so it is looking like the gamma knife treatment is working.  It can take up to a year for the full effect of gamma knife to occur and Carly's doctors are encouraged that the tumor is responding this well early on.  We're keeping focused on this great news, and the good days that Carly has had, and hoping that these good days will become more and more frequent in the coming weeks.

Love,

Brad