Rachel Update

I'm sure that most of you have heard that Rachel had surgery last Thursday. She was sick for a little over a week and she just wasn't getting better. She was vomitting uncontrollably for days and she just wouldn't get any better. I took her to the ER last Monday and they sent her home with a bladder infection. Needless to say, we will not be using that hospital for anymore of Rachel's needs! By Thursday, she was even more sick and her pediatrician finally saw her. She was very worried and had 2 other doctors look at her. They all decided that something was attacking her neuro system and they assumed it had to be an infection of some sort. Michael's mom had come to help me out so the 3 of us were sent to the children's hospital in Pensacola which is about 2 hrs. away. They did a cat scan on her and immediately discovered that she had fluid on her brain. Within an hour of the scan she was in surgery! She had a shunt placed in her head that drains the fluid into her abdominal cavity. The shunt is completely internal and when her stitches heal and her hair grows back there will be no evidence of the shunt's existence. As long as it doesn't malfunction, she should lead a pretty normal life and we caught it before any real damage occured. She will have to have the surgery again and again as she continues to grow and she will probably have a shunt until she is an adult. This was caused by a small defect at the back of her brain that blocks the fluid from draining completely. It hasn't effected her until now because she's now at the age where her skull is fusing. She was only in the hospital for 2 days and as you can see below, she is recovering nicely!

Travis & Robyn came to visit and help out.
GJ was a big help throughout the surgery and the recovery!