"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."
Matthew 5:14-16
When Jason and I decided to start a family, we never had this great mission in mind. We were honestly thinking more selfishly... we wanted to be young parents, I wanted to be a mother, and we just had a strong desire to have a baby. We wanted to raise him to love God and honor Him... to seek Him in all he does and to try to impact the world... but that was going to be later, when he was older... or so we thought. We never dreamed of Darby being able to impact the world as such a tiny infant.
God gave us such a wonderful child. He is beyond sweet and charming, beyond cute and cuddly. He has also been used by God in all the trials he has already gone through. Jason and I, for some reason beyond our knowledge, were counted worthy to face these trials with our son. We were given an opportunity to be a light for others to see, and we are so very thankful for it. We wouldn't change one thing about our lives. Everyday we get to spend with our amazing son, is one more day to praise God for the gift that he is. To also trust and have to rely on God for Darby's health and well-being is a daily struggle... one that brings us to our knees and closer to the God that loves us. Its amazing to think that He loves Darby more that we do, and absolutely comforting.
With that being said, we want you to all know that God has been so amazing and all the glory and thanks are due to Him for being the ultimate healer.
Darby had a fantastic night last night. I'll start from the beginning, just in case we all need to catch up on this hospital stay.
Darby was able to avoid shunt placement... narrowly. Dr. Danielpour (DP from now on) was almost certain he was going to need to place one, but gave it one last shot and was finally able to clear out scar tissue to allow his CSF to flow freely. DP was shocked at the amount of scarring in his ventricle and absolutely surprised that anything was flowing through! After he freed this area, he proceeded to the back of the fluid pockets, and decided the membrane area was stable enough to be opened. This connects the left and right fluid areas and allows the left to help drain the right. This should really help.
The only side effect is Darby's left eye. It is dilated larger than the right eye, the eyelid is a little droopier, and the left eye is not completely able to look to the right side. This is abnormal, but DP believes he knows what happened. The 3rd optic nerve that runs from the eye to the back of the brain is SUPER sensitive. After Darby's initial stroke, the very scarred brain settled in its position of having fluids on it... when DP released the fluids, the brain also adjusted itself to where it should be, also jostling the 3rd Nerve. This is most likely what is causing the problems in the left eye. This wasn't a side effect that we were anticipating, but its pretty hard to anticipate side effects when dealing with the brain.
Darby had been in some discomfort since the surgery. He was getting morphine as needed, but we realized that we hadn't been on top of controlling the pain, so he was given 3 doses in consecutive order yesterday, and it was able to control the pain. Darb hasn't had morphine since yesterday, and has been just fine on tylenol. We came out of the PICU yesterday and are now on the Peds floor. Darby slept amazingly well last night. He woke up this morning as his cheery self, which, I can't tell you how happy we are to see that! He was full of smiles and babbling... and just happy. He doesn't have as much energy, and gets pretty exhausted after just a couple minutes of activity, but we can already just see him getting better.
He has had another CT to check for any other bleeds, but things look just fine. DP came by this morning because he received a phone call from the doctors, concerned about his eyes maybe looking worse. But DP came in and assured us they look good and actually look a tad bit better. His healing might take months, and he might not even get even pupils back, but its all just up in the air. Time is all we are waiting on.
But if he does well today, we can go home in the morning :o)
I'm most definitely mourning the loss of half of darby's hair. I loved his fuzzy little head... now its a funny short buzz with long locks on the other side. I'll make sure to take pictures today! He also has the funniest little tuft of hair still on his right, above his ear. Everything else around it is shaved... too funny. It reminds me of sumo wrestlers or monks who shave everything but one spot.
My most wonderful and gracious husband is going to be staying with Darby tonight. I'm really looking forward to being able to go home tomorrow!
We'll keep you updated... and if you read this today, please think to pray for our friends as well, The Sandersons. They are neighbors of ours, and their little Suzie is having her shunt revised/replaced this morning as well. She's a sweet little 10 month old and we are hoping that she can just get by with a revision!
Thank you all for your kindness and prayers :o)
dana hendrickson
Matthew 5:14-16
When Jason and I decided to start a family, we never had this great mission in mind. We were honestly thinking more selfishly... we wanted to be young parents, I wanted to be a mother, and we just had a strong desire to have a baby. We wanted to raise him to love God and honor Him... to seek Him in all he does and to try to impact the world... but that was going to be later, when he was older... or so we thought. We never dreamed of Darby being able to impact the world as such a tiny infant.
God gave us such a wonderful child. He is beyond sweet and charming, beyond cute and cuddly. He has also been used by God in all the trials he has already gone through. Jason and I, for some reason beyond our knowledge, were counted worthy to face these trials with our son. We were given an opportunity to be a light for others to see, and we are so very thankful for it. We wouldn't change one thing about our lives. Everyday we get to spend with our amazing son, is one more day to praise God for the gift that he is. To also trust and have to rely on God for Darby's health and well-being is a daily struggle... one that brings us to our knees and closer to the God that loves us. Its amazing to think that He loves Darby more that we do, and absolutely comforting.
With that being said, we want you to all know that God has been so amazing and all the glory and thanks are due to Him for being the ultimate healer.
Darby had a fantastic night last night. I'll start from the beginning, just in case we all need to catch up on this hospital stay.
Darby was able to avoid shunt placement... narrowly. Dr. Danielpour (DP from now on) was almost certain he was going to need to place one, but gave it one last shot and was finally able to clear out scar tissue to allow his CSF to flow freely. DP was shocked at the amount of scarring in his ventricle and absolutely surprised that anything was flowing through! After he freed this area, he proceeded to the back of the fluid pockets, and decided the membrane area was stable enough to be opened. This connects the left and right fluid areas and allows the left to help drain the right. This should really help.
The only side effect is Darby's left eye. It is dilated larger than the right eye, the eyelid is a little droopier, and the left eye is not completely able to look to the right side. This is abnormal, but DP believes he knows what happened. The 3rd optic nerve that runs from the eye to the back of the brain is SUPER sensitive. After Darby's initial stroke, the very scarred brain settled in its position of having fluids on it... when DP released the fluids, the brain also adjusted itself to where it should be, also jostling the 3rd Nerve. This is most likely what is causing the problems in the left eye. This wasn't a side effect that we were anticipating, but its pretty hard to anticipate side effects when dealing with the brain.
Darby had been in some discomfort since the surgery. He was getting morphine as needed, but we realized that we hadn't been on top of controlling the pain, so he was given 3 doses in consecutive order yesterday, and it was able to control the pain. Darb hasn't had morphine since yesterday, and has been just fine on tylenol. We came out of the PICU yesterday and are now on the Peds floor. Darby slept amazingly well last night. He woke up this morning as his cheery self, which, I can't tell you how happy we are to see that! He was full of smiles and babbling... and just happy. He doesn't have as much energy, and gets pretty exhausted after just a couple minutes of activity, but we can already just see him getting better.
He has had another CT to check for any other bleeds, but things look just fine. DP came by this morning because he received a phone call from the doctors, concerned about his eyes maybe looking worse. But DP came in and assured us they look good and actually look a tad bit better. His healing might take months, and he might not even get even pupils back, but its all just up in the air. Time is all we are waiting on.
But if he does well today, we can go home in the morning :o)
I'm most definitely mourning the loss of half of darby's hair. I loved his fuzzy little head... now its a funny short buzz with long locks on the other side. I'll make sure to take pictures today! He also has the funniest little tuft of hair still on his right, above his ear. Everything else around it is shaved... too funny. It reminds me of sumo wrestlers or monks who shave everything but one spot.
My most wonderful and gracious husband is going to be staying with Darby tonight. I'm really looking forward to being able to go home tomorrow!
We'll keep you updated... and if you read this today, please think to pray for our friends as well, The Sandersons. They are neighbors of ours, and their little Suzie is having her shunt revised/replaced this morning as well. She's a sweet little 10 month old and we are hoping that she can just get by with a revision!
Thank you all for your kindness and prayers :o)
dana hendrickson
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