Catching up....

I realized after my last post that I never posted about Madison's shunt revision. We went into the ER on the 18th, and I posted at that time about my concerns. She did have a UTI, and broke her first tooth, followed quickly by another. The following week we took her in to see the neurosurgeon for a follow-up on the ER visit. I had figured by that time that her troubles were due to the UTI, teething, and possibly my imagination. However, her head circumference had gone up 1 1/2cm since her ER visit the week before (head growth should be about 1/2-1cm a month at this age), so he decided to do an MRI right then, and it showed definite enlargement of her ventricles. So, at 5pm we were admitted to OHSU. I was not prepared to stay 2 hours from home, my mother and young son Ethan were with us, and Tim was working out of town 1 hour away from home, and 3 hours from Portland.

So, my daughter (Linda, 21) stayed with the rest of the crew at home, and my dad brought me clothes and things, picked up my mom and Ethan at 10pm or so, and I stayed in Portland with Madison. She had to fast from about 3am since they were working her into the surgery schedule, but they didn't get her in until around 4:30pm. It was a long day, but she did quite well with the fasting. We hung out together and watched Baby Einstein a whole bunch. I posted a new video that I took with my phone. I took this just minutes before they wheeled her away for surgery. She's amazingly happy for fasting over 14 hours.

So, she recovered well, and has been making great strides in her development since then. She's bearing weight really well, and getting up on all fours to try and crawl. She scoots backwards instead of forwards, but seeing her reach these milestones is simply lovely. :)

My mother-in-law Carol passed away last week, and we have been mourning her, yet praising the Lord for his tender mercies. She's in a better place for sure. She was always loving and warm and a great blessing to our family. We will miss her....