Darby Medical Update

I thought it might be time to post an update and how Mr. Darbs is doing :o) We have been busy and have left you all with very scant details. Forgive us! But here is the skinny...

Darby went in for surgery yesterday morning. It took them a long while to do all the prep work (iv's, and head shaves...) They finally called to let us know they had started and from then it took about an hour. We saw Dr. Danielpour... his first words to us... "Nothing with darby is ever easy..." Ha... the verdict was that when DP (Dr. Danielpour) got the scope in there, he saw tremendous amounts of scarring. He said that he was actually pretty surprised that any CSF was getting through at all! He tried numerous times to get the scar tissue out... he was almost determined on placing a shunt, when he decided to try one last time. That last attempt was successful! He then proceeded to check on his fluid pockets toward the back of the brain. He decided that he would open the membrane between the left and right pockets, allowing the left to help drain the right. The membrane is open and fluid is moving better than ever!

Darby is doing well. We have been trying to manage his pain for the last 36 hours. He was getting morphine as needed, and as that was giving us trouble, we went ahead and gave him 3 doses this afternoon, in their allotted times, so his pain could get under control. It seems to be, and he's on Tylenol as well. So now we are back to giving it as needed. In the morning he will change to a Tylenol with codeine, or some other drug that we can actually administer at home if need be. That is our qualification for discharge. Besides that, Darby is doing well. Eating some and being awake some... he loves being held and is currently not hooked up to anything but a residual IV port.

The poor kid loves to rub his face, but the arm with his IV port is a huge splint and he hurts himself by knocking his head and kind of scratching his face each time he tried to rub with that arm... you'd think he'd learn, but he hasn't.

He does have some after effects... darby's left eye is very dilated and the eyelid is very swollen/saggy. His right eye is quite opposite in its dilation. DP is kind of surprised by this (something that no one ever really wants to hear) and the only thing that he can figure is that his 3rd Nerve was moved slightly. Its a nerve that is connected from the eye to the very back of the skull, and is extremely sensitive... even exposure to air bothers it. What DP figures is that with all the fluid back up, things got comfy where they were in his brain... but once the fluid was released, the brain was able to settle a little better where it should be. This would include that nerve. Its possible that darby has double vision, its possible that its just in one eye and just when he looks past midline to the right... lots of things are possible. What we do know, is that his brain looks good, the CT scan showed no bleeds and things starting to resolve. We do know that we just need to wait for his sight problems to just resolve. We could go see an ophthalmologist, but they'd just tell us the same thing... give it some time, and then come back. And its really true... looking back at pictures of darby after his stroke, were kind of surprising... his eyes were quite disjointed as they moved. Sometimes they were in sync, and sometimes they weren't, but in the end they resolved themselves just fine. We'll just wait and see... darby is already lined up to see some therapists for tracking issues and we'll just add this. Maybe we'll follow up with an eye doctor in a couple months.

As it goes, Darby will do another CT next week, visit DP, and see if the stitches are ready for removal. If not, we'll come back in another week to get them removed.

Its been a good stay :0) Darby is finally getting some great rest, and hopefully I will too! My mom has been here and been a huge help. I haven't been getting much sleep at nights, so she sleeps at night, and then relieves me in the late morning, and I go home and sleep and come back in the late afternoon to stay the night again.

Our friends have also been so great to us :o) thank you, all of you! We greatly appreciate your prayers and your practical helps... especially those delicious cupcakes (amber!).

God has been really good to all of us. We are having to lean on him, for all our worries and all our fears. He has given darby such great health and got him through all this... stuff! We are thankful and humbled, and continue to seek him. I don't think I can accurately describe all that we are learning and have learned... maybe on another day I'll try.

I'm off to bed, to sleep when darby sleeps... hoping thats a good amount of time :0)