Another surgery

Zoe needs to have another surgery.  Her MRI from Tuesday revealed that the surgery in January did not resolve all of the issues.  The swallowing delay and aspiration has been resolved, but the additional spinal fluid that was pooling in her spinal column has gotten significantly worse.  The Chiari decompression surgery had a less than 50% chance of correcting that problem, but we did not expect it to get worse.  Dr. Swift asked if her arm strength had weakened at all.  We haven't seen anything; however, as I mentioned in another blog post, she hasn't made any significant strides in physical therapy as of late.  He said that he didn't want to wait for her to begin showing big symptoms because that could set us back in her physical development.

She is going to have a laminectomy on September 11.  She will also have a shunt tap that day to make sure the shunt is functioning properly.  If she needs the shunt revision surgery, they will perform it at that time.  We aren't certain of the recovery time, but they said it wouldn't be as bad as the decompression surgery...I don't see how anything could be that bad!!!!  From what I understand, they will go through the back around C7 and insert a tube to drain the fluid.  This will become permanent and will function like her shunt.  We are looking at 3-4 days in the hospital again...guess we'll be getting her iPad before Christmas.  Hahaha.

Dr. Swift says kids are developing so rapidly at her age, and that Zoe's main symptom may be that she's just not developing at her full potential.  We are all about getting Zoe to her full potential, so please join us in prayer on this next adventure.

On a side note, she's been sentencing like crazy lately!  Tells people, "It's so good to see you!" and "Hi, how are you doing?!" and likes to tell people, "I'm two and she's thirty!" (pointing at me of course) She is also becoming quite my little buddy...cuddling, singing, reading, playing babies and dolls.  I swear she would sell her grandmother's soul to the devil for a stamp if she could.  (I've started giving her stamps every time she uses her "sweet voice" and does polite and helpful things.) She's also getting a walker next week.  We are hoping she starts to get interested in it in the next few months.

We will be celebrating Jay's birthday this weekend too!  It's very convenient that he gets a holiday weekend every year for his birthday.  Thanks for all your prayers and we will keep you posted.

the gralls