Quick Update

Hello all.  I'm home for just a few minutes and since I can't update my blog from the hospital, decided it was a priority while I was here.  Clayton seemed to be doing better yesterday afternoon, was waking up complaining and bossing us around, which is always a good sign.  He still seemed to be needing lots of sleep but it wasn't a concern since he has just had brain surgery . . .

Around five this morning, he woke up telling me he wanted to go home, and to get his chair.  I figured that was a sign he was on the mend.  He was still lethargic, but in his awake moments talked to me.  He was released from the PICU into a regular room mid-morning, but shortly after noon Brian and I realized that something just wasn't right.  He wanted to sit up, but as soon as he sat up, he would get a weird look and we knew he needed to lay back down.  He also couldn't keep his eyes open and quickly even lost almost all ability to even whisper anything to us.  The nurses were immediately concerned as well and contacted the doctor on call.  He ordered a CT and after waiting FOREVER on hospital protocol, we finally made it downstairs for the scan.  He perked up enough to fight against the scan, but afterwards fell back into his lethargic state. 

Long story longer, his CT scan did not show another shunt malfunction, but showed that his ventricles had drained too much.  They were hardly even visible on the scan.  The doctor said that there is no immediate danger from this, but it is extremely painful, which explained his state.  He's basically suffering from a migraine times a hundred!  This condition can go one of two ways:  either it resolves on its own or they have to do surgery again in order to regulate the valve better in the shunt.  PLEASE PRAY HIS VENTRICLES RETURN TO A NORMAL SIZE ON THEIR OWN!

Another specific prayer request involves his right hand.  Something hasn't been quite right about it since Friday.  He had an I.V. taped to it, so we were willing to blame it on that.  The I.V. came out tonight and his hand looked normal.  But then Clayton tried to scratch his nose and couldn't even get his hand to cooperate.  It was scary watching him try to coordinate his hand.  It was shaking all over the place.  His right hand is literally his only functional extremity.  PLEASE PRAY THESE SYMPTOMS ARE ONLY TEMPORARY AND THAT FULL USE OF HIS RIGHT HAND RETURNS!!! 

We appreciate everyone praying for Clayton.  Prayers and miracles have gotten him this far and we fully expect the Lord to keep blessing him with healing. 

The hospital computer systems keep me blocked from my blog, so I'll do my best to update when I can.