Who knew such big decisions would be made on a Saturday?

Today I had a wonderful day at home doing all kinds of things that have been put on the back burner around our house. I feel so accomplished and relieved! While I was at home, a LOT was going down at the hospital. Russell, my mom, and his mom took turns with Emma, and they gave me great reports from Dawn and the doctors. First of all, Dawn dressed Emma's wound yesterday, so she had something to compare it to today. She said it looked wonderful, and she and Russell could both see an improvement in the amount of pink granulation coming through.

Some other big things that happened relate to Emma's antibiotics and her shunt surgery. One of the pediatric infectious disease doctors came by and determined that Emma needs to be on one of her antibiotics for one more week, which will be next Monday. She contacted Dr. Troup, and he was in agreement with this decision. On top of that, he decided that Emma's shunt surgery will tentatively be scheduled for next Monday or Tuesday. This is a pretty big step because he is absolutely the last person who will project even an estimated date for anything! He actually said that he'd be willing to do it this Thursday, but he's going out of town on Friday; he just doesn't want to go out of town the day after he does the surgery...which I appreciate very much! This doesn't sound great that her surgery is still another week out AND the antibiotics have to keep flowing for another week, but to be honest, it doesn't bother me one bit to give Emma more good medicine and more time for the wound to heal before she has to go on her back for the shunt. The shunt requires her to spend some time flat and some time upright, so the wound really needs to be in a lot better shape for that to happen. I wonder if the doctors also want to give that suspicious white spot in the middle of the wound some more time to heal...

God is really taking care of our little girl. Some days it doesn't feel like it, but today I really do feel His comfort, even though we got news that Emma still needs another week of antibiotics. I just know deep down that He's going to do great things with her incision this week.

I wouldn't dare post a picture of Emma's fully open wound, but I do have a picture of one step of the dressing, just so that you have an idea of how big it is. This is what it looks like before the outer dressing goes on it. There's a piece of gauze soaked in gel medicine and then pressed into the wound. You can also see the Press 'N Seal around the edges. Hopefully it's not too graphic for you! Now you can see that the wound is a pretty big deal, and it's easy to see why Emma has to be on her tummy all the time.



Tonight's sweet nurse Judy is fantastic. She told us that next weekend, Russell and I should take a day trip together before Emma comes home since she would be here at nighttime and Dawn would be here during the day - two nurses we completely trust. It's so nice to have a nurse genuinely care about us and actually tell us to leave; this means she doesn't view us as parents who will do her job for her when we're here! Tell me this wasn't meant to be - her name is Judy (my mom's name), and she has a daughter named Mary Beth. Maybe we WILL take a day trip...Judy suggested the Grove Park Inn. Wouldn't that be nice on a beautiful spring afternoon?