Remembering again

Two years ago, on this very Friday, we were celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary (it was Sept. 1st then) and Amos was having another brain surgery. The temporary shunt had failed and needed to come out and be replaced by a permanent shunt. He was finally big enough (around 4.5 lbs) and was in surgery for longer. It was a hard day. Although we had been through it before, we were still praying for him and were concerned about how things would go.

Surgery went well but it was long. Afterwards, they tried to take out his breathing tube and in hopes that he would be able to breathe on his own right away, also turned down the anesthisia so he would be less sleepy. They quickly found that he was in alot of pain and turned up the pain medication. This confused his body and sent him into what they thought were seizures. By the time they let us see him, the doctors, nurses, residents and neurosurgeons were trying to figure out what had happened and at best guess, thought he had had a seizure. So they loaded him up with medication that would continue to leave him very sleepy. By 10 o'clock that night, we finally felt ok about leaving to go have dessert for our anniversary. It had been an intense couple of hours, but they let us be in there while they worked on him. Over the weekend, he got better, woke up more and came out of whatever happened to him. It was an intense and scary night, but I'll never forget what the neurosurgeon resident said when I asked him how long the shunt will work. He said, "Shunts are like used cars--they get you from point A to point but break down alot." My heart sank and I became afraid that we would be back here again soon.

Praise God that we haven't. It's been two years and Amos shunt has not failed. In fact, it's worked too well. We've had to adjust the pressure a number of times, since it's working so well. We're so happy and excited that Amos' development is on track; that he deosn't have major neurological problems and that he's happy and growing well. We are thankful for his health and well being, too. He brings us so much joy and is a great blessing to us both.