Monday, January 4, 2010

Familiar Stomping Grounds - Message from Andrea 1/3/10

Posted 14 hours ago
Julian is sleeping soundly in room 321 at CHOC tonight and we expect to go home tomorrow. Kept the healthcare system fairly busy last week: two clinic visits, chemo push, NG tube replacement, home health visit, three days of special meds to boost his white blood cell production, a blood transfusion, ER visit and two nights at CHOC. In between he did have fun playing with his Christmas toys and going to the beach for a short while on New Year's Eve. But we were pretty worried yesterday afternoon when he said his shunt hurt and it looked fairly swollen and even appeared as if it had shifted downward. Bracing for news that he might need surgery to replace it. In the ER, they did an x-ray and a CT scan and, thankfully, the shunt is working just fine. (Earlier in the week, Julian had taken a tumble on the front lawn and said he had bumped his head, so these scans eased our concerns that his fall had caused any problems.) But because of the swelling and tenderness there could have been an infection, so the doctors wanted to watch him for a night or two and give him antibiotics. He also needed a blood transfusion because his red blood cell count was low again. So, we took care of business and spent the first couple of days of the new year at CHOC, but so glad he was in caring and capable hands and that he is feeling much better now. Want to wish you all a wonderful New Year and thank you for riding this roller coaster with us. Your prayers continue to help Julian through each dip and sudden turn on that ride. The events of this past week certainly confirm that! And thanks to Him for protecting Julian from injury and so much more (i.e. amazingly, he didn't catch my flu bug a few weeks ago!)

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