James Update - Tuesday 1/4/2011

James was admited to the hospital at UCSF yesterday because of a skin-breakdown (basically a bed-sore) at the location of his shunt on his head. We figured out (with the help of his neuro-surgeon) that basically what happened was that there was too much pressure on the skin just on top of the shunt, because the shunt itself is a big bump under there (which is normal), and because James has been so immobile since his function loss in August, that he sits and lays a lot, and there was pressure on the skin from the outside, too, from his high chair and pillow and stuff, so the skin broke down in that area, and made way for bacteria to enter. It was not a re-opening of the incision, like we thought orignially. The incision healed well, but he got a bed-sore on the skin right on top of the shunt.

We are going to be here at least until sometime next week, most-likely until LATE next week - possibly even the weekend, or longer. James is going to go in for surgery sometime today (probably around 6pm tonight or so? We don't have an exact time...) and they will remove the current shunt, and all of the tubing, and place a temporary, external shunt (that will drain outside his body into a bag next to his bed). Then we will wait several days, while he recieves IV anti-biotics and the orignial shunt site heals up, and the MRSA has cleared. They will check his spinal fluid for infection. When we get all of the cultures back, and he has been on anti-biotics long enough, and the wound begins to heal, THEN they will place a new regular shunt back into his body in a different location - away from the sore, and more on top of his head where he is less likely to put pressure on it (and thus create another bed-sore).

Right now Seth is with me and has already lost 2 days of work, and will miss work tomorrow. He is probably going to head home tomorrow night, so that he can get some hours in on Thursday and Friday this week, and then come back to be with us this weekend, and bring me some stuff that I wish I had (like my laptop!!) -- We're not sure what we are going to do about next week yet... Pray for wisdom and peace for everyone involved in making these decisions.

Pray for strength for me if I do need to be here alone with James at some point during this hospital stay, and also because I miss Josiah so much when I have to be away from him for things like this. :-(

I just found out about some computers with internet access that are here at the hospital (that is what I am using now) -- so I will update the blog and facebook as I am able.

Thanks for praying!

Our God is in complete control of every detail, and He is good.