YOU HAD BRAIN SURGERY (AGAIN)
“As long as I have my pandas, I’m okay.”
January, 10-11, 2020
Annalise,
Thursday night we were celebrating your brother’s 5th birthday, Friday we were up before the sun so you could have a shunt placed in your cute little noggin. We did this to help with some of the symptoms you’ve been having. Once again, you were fearless and tougher than nails through it all.
We were told this procedure would last about 2 hours start-to-finish, but it didn’t go that way at all. It was an agonizing 6.5 hours of waiting and worrying for mom and I. Despite the extra time, Dr. Storm said all went well. When you woke, you were demanding something cold to drink. Immediately we could hear that distinctive spunky attitude in your voice — what a relief. Your mom and I shared a smile at the sound of that.
Nonetheless, it was a rough night. More pain than we expected, and the PICU is probably the worst place to try to sleep – hourly checks, constant beeps, crying babies – but you’ve been there, done that.
By the next morning, you were down in the dumps. You just wanted to go home. And who could blame you. So instead of keeping you there for observation, we made it our mission to get you up, to see you sit in a chair, and to take you for a stroll around the ICU. Although you looked like you were in pain, your resolve to leave didn’t waiver. You wanted out. So that’s what we did. That sure made you perk up!
A few hours later, you were back home in your happy place.
And now we’re on to the next phase of treatment… back to UPENN for 10 days of proton therapy.
Cue the Bob Marley.