Saturday, August 26, 2023

I spoke too soon… he’s not back yet, but will be soon!

Wyatt has been having abdominal pain all summer long since surgery.  We attributed it to his incision on his abdomen but on Saturday, we learned that was not the case.  The good news is that we are addressing the issue and he feels better already!  On Saturday, Wyatt was in extreme, extreme pain.  It broke my heart.  I thought to myself, that’s enough of just giving pain meds- we need to find the underlying issue!! Off to the pediatric ER at Hopkins.  They were awesome- took him right away and did every test - x ray, ultrasound, MRI.  They discovered a pseudo cyst- cerebrospinal fluid from his shunt pooling in his abdomen. It has been building up since mid June.  His body is not absorbing it.  He was admitted about 1:00 am and had emergency surgery at 9:45am on Saturday.  We are fortunate to have a hospital close by with a full neurosurgical team 24/7.  The surgeon pulled 200 ml of CSF from his abdomen and placed an external drain until all the CSF cultures from his brain and abdomen come back in five days.  After five days, he will have a  more extensive surgery, placing the tubing back inside his body and locating a spot that will absorb the fluid.  For now we just sit and wait in the hospital for about a week before the next surgery.  We are told about two weeks in the hospital.  This all took us by surprise!   The timing overlaps with the start of his sophomore year but he will persevere.   We are happy to finally figure out what’s going on.  

Wyatt is feeling better already in just a few hours after surgery.  Surgery on a weekend is vastly different than surgery on a weekday.  The waiting room and recovery room was completely empty.  Hopefully after this, Wyatt will be even stronger than before.  Why not end the school year and start the school year at John’s Hopkins????  Even on the same floor and same room.  


After surgery 

The drain- the clear liquid is CSF- cerebral spinal fluid

Everything is EMPTY!!!



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