Needless to say we are devestated. A crushing blow for sure. How would he be able to pull through all of this without additional brain damage, or worse? Kim and I head directly to the hospital without saying a word the whole way. This was going to be a long day.
How did it come to this? Just a few days before we were prepping for Cash to come home. The rollercoaster continues. I wonder how much more we can take of these emotional let downs.
Upon arriving we see the nurse practitioner and the doctor at bedside. They explain that they are prepping Cash for surgery per the positive cultures. Kim holds Cash for a bit while we wait for Neuro to come by. I step outside and text as many of our family and friends as possible to pray for our son; soon after, Pastor Bob arrives. Tears are abundant. I request someone without an accent from Neuro to speak with about all this, referably the surgeon. The doctor is apologetic about our situation.
3 hours go by and the Neurosurgeon arrives with a happy go lucky attitiude. I'm livid. I ask the surgeon to explain whats going on. He is a bit taken back by my attitude and proceeds to tell me all is well. Just before my head explodes, the attending doctor tells the surgeon that Cash is prepped for surgery. He looks perplexed and asks why. She tells him what the results of the culture are and he basically says "No". We are all confused.
Someone had incorrectly input the info from the cultures!!! There is no infection with regards to the spinal fluid. The surgery was a success and the shunt is working perfectly. The culture that came back positive was the one from the incision on his head. The infection is minor and external.
WTF!!??!! Seriously! All of this the past 4 hours is caused by a clerical error? Unbelievable. The doctors have words, but in the end the surgeon assures us there is no major concern, and no surgery in our future pending a positive culture in spinal fluid over the next 72 hours. We can breathe, and relax.
The docotors all apologize for the "miscommunication". I reply with, "Miscommunication? Seriously? That is not what I call it!" I'm out of energy, so whats the point in continuing this. My boy is ok, and my wife is able to relax.
I think Pastor Bob was at a loss for words. He has another person to visit in MD Anderson and we tell him thanks for visiting. Our tears are dry, but a little on edge as we have 3 more days with our fingers crossed for a continued negative result on the culture. Meanwhile anti-biotics are started for a 10 day period to kill any external infection.
We dodged a bullet! Though not the way we wanted to get there, we finally got some sort of resolution that Cash would be ok. Meanwhile we are searching for the results to both the audio and visual tests conducted at the end of the previous week. Finally we get the results, and after all the worry, both come back good. 100% normal! Cash can hear and see just fine, AND his brain is reading the signals properly. Its a miracle by all accounts, considering the amount of atrophy in the area of the brain that is responsible for that stuff. Once again the big man upstairs has provided for us.
Over the next 3 days the good news continued, without clerical error. Feeds are getting better and his o2 levels are improving by the day. The countdown to get my son home continues!
Now, you would think with all our visits, phone in check-ups and pleads for constant communication we would be up to speed on all things Cash related. Nope. Check this out. Yesterday we are finally getting Cash' room in order, its a happy day. I've attached some pics below. At any rate we get a phone call around 4pm to schedule delivery of 02 to the house and a time to learn how to work the air at bedside on Monday. Kimberley ask why we are scheduling this, as we haven't been given a date to plan on bringing Cash home. The lady on the other end says, and I quote, "We have discharge papers for early next week, ma'am.". Obviously we are floored. How does she have this and we haven't been told a thing?
As I type this, Kimberley is holding our precious little miracle, and just spoke to the nurse about a possible discharge on Wednesday. I'm not holding my breath, but to be close is a blessing for sure. By this time next week, barring a setback, I'll be typing an update on Cash while he sleeps in front of me.
Tuesday is gone for sure.
Let the good times roll!
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