January 10, 2015 "Shunt Surgery #2"

Michael and I arrived early this morning to see Rayden off to surgery. He was already prepared when we arrived. Jennica, one of the nurses, could see I was very upset. She came over and hugged me as I began to cry. Michael and I walked down to the OR with Rayden because we wanted to speak with Dr. Elton before the surgery. He informed us that he would do whatever it takes to remedy this situation. I was so overwhelmed with emotion as I kissed Rayden goodbye and told him I loved him. I couldn't stand watching them take my newborn baby BACK into brain surgery. I cried and cried as Michael hugged me and held my hand as we walked back to the waiting room upstairs. Soon Dr. Elton called with the news. He stated that a shunt had 3 components-an inflow catheter, a valve mechanism, and an outflow catheter. He tested the catheters and thought they were draining correctly.

Although he didn't see anything wrong with the valve, he decided to replace it anyway. The valve regulates differential pressure and controls flow through the shunt tubing. He reprogrammed the drainage to 2.5 and took a CSF sample to culture for infection. Rayden is on IV antibiotics for 48 hours as a precaution. When we went back to see him I couldn't believe how still he was. He was all stretched out. I noticed he was breathing funny too. He was taking short breaths and then stoping all together for a minute. The nurse said it was a side effect of the anesthesia and would wear off shortly. We waited and waited for him to wake up. We returned from dinner to find that Rayden had oxygen in his nose. I was so upset because he had NEVER needed oxygen, why now? What was going on? He would only open his eyes for a second and had his legs all stretched out. The nurses and the doctors told us that he was just having trouble coming off the anesthesia and should be fine after a while. We were not allowed to hold our baby ALL day. I felt like we had started all over again!