Days Twenty-Seven - Thirty-One

Much of the same around our place since my last post. We're all settled in with James' new tent bed. He seems to like it and doesn't try to get out on his own. So I'd call that a success. He calls for me each morning as soon as he wakes up (usually 7am) and tells me to put his helmet on. Then he's off to the races-which usually means running into Nathans room to wake him up. 

Today, December 6th, we had our follow-up CT Scan and Neurosurgery appointments. James sat like a rock star for his CT Scan- no sedation needed and he was perfectly still, following radiology's instructions to the letter. As soon as we were finished Kelly, our radiologist, rewarded James with his "prize" for being so good. One of the office staff ended up giving him a secret prize-a giant teddy bear-that's almost as big as James!! We then head over to the neurosurgeons and they reviewed his scans. Everything looked really good, all of the swelling has gone down and James healed up really nicely.  The doctor went over the films with us and showed us where the bone was removed and where the injury is. He discussed with us that the portion of the brain that was injured is the part that controls speech.  He eluded to the fact that he was surprised at the fact that James was speaking due to the severity of the injury. I assured him that James is most definitely speaking at home (although he refuses to speak to Dr. Bookland - no matter how hard he tries). There is a pocket of spinal fluid on the side of his head, but that was to be expected. The surgeon says the fluid did a lot of the prep work for him and we're in the perfect window of time to do the reconstruction. He did say the tricky part will be piecing the fractured pieces back together again.  The best thing is for his original bone to be replaced rather than any other material. So they will use that first and see how his body reacts. There's always a chance for an infection or rejection when doing the surgery as well as seizures. But he will be closely monitored after surgery in the PICU. the surgery is scheduled for Monday, December 19th, most likely first thing in the morning. They are hoping to have him home with us for Christmas, but we told them we are in no rush, Christmas can be celebrated later if we happen not to be at home. Obviously all of us being together is the most important part, everything else will fall into place later.