Improvements and Questions

Well, first the good news.

- Meagan is having more wet diapers.
- It seems (knock on wood) Meagan's fever has broken... it is hovering around 99-100, and we are past her does of Motrin.. so hopefully we don't see anymore spikes.
- Meagan's swollen spot has softened a little bit - so the Neurosurgeon's theory about that being caused by the increased ICP (inter-cranial pressure) from the high fever seems to be consistent, so far.
- Meagan is having moments where she is calm or having more of her personality come through.


Now the "interesting" news:

- More blood-work today showed normal, so no obvious signs of infection.  Her CRP is .9... which is technically 'normal' because anything less than 1 is normal, but, it is on the edge. It was .7 on Saturday. So it still perks my suspicions whether we got two readings "within" normal, or whether this is the start of a rise.
- Although the fever is lower, she is still very fussy overall.  She is still very sensitive to her head being touched or positional change. She does not like light in her eyes.
- She is actually eating less than she was the last two days. She has barely had 4 oz from a bottle today... she has nursed 3 times today but only for about 10 minutes max.  This is not normal for her. It seems like it is uncomfortable for her to suck.
- Twice when she's been sleeping today, her resting heart rate has fallen into the 60's. (normally, her resting rate is in the 90's).  Also, she had a few desats that were longer than 5 seconds..when she was absolutely still.... this is abnormal for her as well. These coincided with her low resting heart rate. Sometimes, these things can be consistent with increased ICP, so I'm wondering if that is the case.. or just a fluke.

Fever is lower, but this is not a face of someone 100% better

So, we are left with improvement in some areas, but still no answers, or plan.  They did a flu swab as a last shot, just in case, even though she's already had her flu vaccine and is showing no other symptoms.  Dr. R did stop by again... he was relatively confident we have ruled out shunt infection, but not 100% sure.  He was happy the bloodwork showed normal, but still feels something is off.  He is going to let Meagan rest and stop by in the morning to see her.

Honestly at this point, I wish they would tap the shunt.  Tapping the shunt requires taking some CSF out of her shunt and testing it for infection.  It is risky, in that you could possibly introduce new infection into the shunt tract when the sample is extracted.  This is why Dr. R was resistent to do it this morning.  However, with everything being so 'strange' and having no clear answer as to what is bothering her, I think the tap is worth it.  We are here. She is already admitted.  Might as well cover ALL bases, in my opinion, before letting her go home.  Dr. R sounded like he wanted to let her go home tomorrow, so we will see if they do the shunt tap or not.  I'm definitely going to ask about it - I already let our nurses know today I'd feel more comfortable knowing the CSF was clear.

 One nice surprise was a rep from FOCUS (Families Of Children Under Stress) stopped by. She brought Meagan a cute pillow pet and brought me a Mary Kay bag.  This was awesome because I had JUST been thinking about how I couldn't believe this one time we actually get admitted for a long period, I hadn't packed my emergency bag.  So I enjoyed a nice shower and getting all cleaned up with my new Mary Kay bag.  It's funny how things happen like that.  Thanks also to all the family and friends who have been communicating with me...helping me pass the time in the hospital, helping get the kids to and from school, and helping in general with things from bringing coffee, all the way to talking with me on the phone and being supportive.

So that's kind of the recap of today - not really "eventful" but not really "all better" either.  I wish we would have an obvious sign there is truly a shunt problem tonight, or she just suddenly gets 100% better and we are absolutely sure she's ok.  This middle of the road" is very frustrating! I of course would rather the latter - I want her to feel completely better...I don't want anything to be wrong.. but a clearer answer is what I'd like more than anything so I can feel completely comfortable taking her home tomorrow.