It has been too long amigos…sorry about that. I’m probably decompressing from all the stress I didn’t realize I was feeling at the time, but I have been indescribably tired these last few weeks. I guess trying to let it roll off your back has consequences. What lesson is there to be learned? I’m not really sure, except if you deal with something like this, be prepared for the crash. I suppose it’s not unlike the way you feel after minor-ish car accidents. Initially, you don’t feel so bad, but the next day you feel like you were beat up. I do feel kind of like someone has pounded my emotions in the face, and I still haven’t quite recovered.

Last week Declan went to see the neurosurgeon for his follow up apointment. His head is something like 2cm smaller! His stitches are healing well. His sutures (the places where the bones of your skull meet) are now overlapping a little as a result of his head getting smaller. It’s not terribly noticable, but when you look you can see the lines where the bones meet. This may take quite a while to correct, but it’s not really a big deal.

The Neurosurgeon did tell Kayleigh that he saw “something” on the MRI that no one had noticed up to that point. He didn’t seem terribly concerned, but he also didn’t seem to have much as far as details go either. Just “something”. Declan will have to go back again in the next few months for another MRI so they can look at “something” again. So…normal, normal, PANIC. This is where our assertiveness is going to have to kick in. Kayleigh is going to call the nurse and search for some more clarification on what “something” means. For now, we’re back to normal mode, since worrying won’t accomplish anything.

In another normal, normal, panic, normal moment, two Saturdays ago I watched Declan and Amelia solo for the first time since surgery. Kayleigh left for work and everything was going fine. Amelia was watching some Super Why and I was just started giving Declan his first bottle. About 2 minutes in he lost it. He cried, and screamed, and cried. When I tried to get him to drink a little more he’d just gag. He screamed, and screamed, and wouldn’t stop. Kayleigh called when she got to work and I let her know that I was starting to get a little panicky. She made some suggestions, and had to start work. (I’m pretty sure she was about to jump back in to the car and make the long trip back home.) So I’m walking around with irate Declan, jiggling him around, and trying to calm him down, then…he burped. Yep, that was it.

It was completely unlike Declan to cry for so long (15-20 minutes of crying seems like an eternity when you start thinking you may have to load up and head to the emergency room). He did the same thing the following Monday. We think he may have outgrown the formula we were giving him, and he was just getting tummy aches. Shoo!

(It’s been about another week since I wrote this. Instead of changing it, I thought I’d just add that Kayleigh did check on “something”. The nurse called right back this time. She explained that there’s a small fluid pocket in Declan’s brain. The Doctor isn’t worried, but does want to keep an eye on it. Another note: in the picture above, the larger line you can see on the left hand side of Declan’s head is a part of his shunt. A tube runs off of that in to his brain. On the left you can see one of the overlapping sutures.)

Until next time…yawn!