Some bad news and some good news...

Whew...it's been a long day(s)...if this post is all over the place please forgive me, as I have now been 33 hours without sleep...(almost just as long without a shower...ewww). I'm hoping to fix both of these problems as soon as I type this post to update everyone on how things went today.

Let's do the not-so-good news first. You know it's not good when your surgeon walks into the conference room and says, "Things went okay." You also know it's not good when your surgeon, who is one of the top surgeons in the world when it comes to shunts says, "I haven't quite figured out how to fix this."

When they went in today, they again replaced the entire shunt system (not what I wanted), but our surgeon was not pleased at all with the amount of fluid that came out of the shunt when it was initially placed. Here's what he thinks is the problem: the lining of the cyst is so thick that he doesn't think the catheter of the shunt is getting poked all the way into the cyst. He feels that when he is putting the catheter in, it is just pushing against the cyst and maybe poking it some, but not completely puncturing the cyst to drain the fluid. He's not happy with this. He doesn't want us to leave without it fixed. ( I love him for this!) However, he's not sure what to do to fix it. He was very frustrated when he came out of surgery and honestly admitted that he needed to "figure it out." So he told us that Anderson would go from the recovery room to a CT scan to see where the shunt is compared to the cyst. If the shunt is not completely in the cyst (which he already feels it isn't because they only got a trickle of fluid out) then Anderson will go back into surgery tomorrow to try something different.

At this point, we are awaiting to hear what decision the doctors feel is best. Last we heard they were downstairs looking at the CT scan and trying to "problem solve".

While this isn't the best news, it's not that bad either. I mean, I don't want him to go back into surgery tomorrow, but if it saves him future surgeries, then it's a win. It does make me nervous that this may not be a "routine" surgery tomorrow. I do feel sorry for Anderson that he has to undergo another surgery, if that is what they decide. But in the big picture, I see the benefit of it.

The good news...remember that I specifically asked all of you to pray that Anderson would not be in as much pain with this surgery as his last one? Well...thank you for praying that specific prayer. I know you did, because after surgery on his way to the CT scan, he was playing with his toes, rolling in his bed, and talking. You absolutely could not tell that he had just come out of surgery with a large incision on his head and abdomen. It's powerful and amazing to watch him this afternoon. He is a totally different child than the day of our last surgery. God is so good!

Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, and kind words today. Please continue to pray- especially for the doctors as they try to figure all of this out and do what is best for Anderson.