"Babies Got Brain and I can not lie, no other brother can deny..."

Well our appointment at Children's went fabulous!  First hurdle...there is no infection.  Second hurdle...there is no more leaking of cerebral spinal fluid externally.  It's still leaking inside but as his head continues to grow and the fluid continues to drain it will get back to "normal".  So the internal leaking is A-OK for now. 

We met with Jane one of the Neurosurgery Nurse Practitioner's today who was awesome.  She put up with all of Byron's corny jokes and all of our ridiculous questions ("Do babies with Hydrocephalus get hiccups more than typical babies??"...I know we are totally ridiculous).  She also gave us tons of explanations of the brain today with lots of visuals which was really helpful.  But best of all, she pulled up Elliot's MRI's and did a comparison with us.  We compared the MRI from 1 day old to the MRI at 23 days old.  First off its an amazing feeling when a medical professional walks into an appointment and the first thing she says is "wow, we can really tell that shunt is working".  Byron and I thrive off of any positive and she was bouncing with positive words today.  Ok so back to the MRI's...there is a totally significant change from one MRI to the next.  Elliot's lateral ventricles are shrinking, the excess cerebral spinal fluid is draining and his brain is "sponging" back beautifully!!!!  We were told that it could take up to a year for his brain to start coming back and his has come back greatly after only a month.  It's amazing...and Byron and I never thought that a picture of a brain could bring tears to our eyes.  Jane was nice enough to print off some pictures for us to take home, so Byron edited them to make them a little easier to compare and to share. 

She also measured Elliot's head and he is still measuring at 42 cm, which is good for his age and post-shunt date.  She decided to leave his stitches in for another week...her words were "I wouldn't want to take them out and for him to spring a leak"....soooo we will go back to Children's next Friday to meet with Dr. O'Neill and have them removed.  Even though after she mentioned "springing a leak", Byron and I wouldn't mind them staying in for the rest of his life, ha ha. 

Overall this was a great appointment that left us smiling from ear to ear.  We know that there will still be bumps in our road however we will embrace all good news with open arms.  Enjoy the photos.

MRI

MRI

MRI

MRI

X-RAY

X-RAY