Joshua... surgery #4.... our little miracle

We had quite a scare Thursday. Josh had not been acting himself since about Wednesday morning. If any of you know Josh, you know that if he isn't smiling and playing, something is wrong. He had his physical therapist come on Thursday afternoon and Josh didn't have a good nap before she came. Josh loves when she comes because she brings all sorts of new toys and we all know about kids and new toys! Well, Josh wasn't interested in playing. He sat there, not reaching for toys. He acted like this was really hard for him. His physical therapist told me that the flu is going around, so that became our conclusion. He was practically falling asleep before the end of the session, so I put him to bed. About 3 hours later, Gavin came, yelling, "Mom, Josh threw up in his bed." That kind of sealed the deal for the flu symptoms. I felt him and he didn't have a fever. I was still thinking about what was going on with him. Something wasn't sitting right with this situation. At this point I thought back to when Josh was born and the doctors telling me to treat any flu-like symptoms as a shunt malfunction. I started thinking about the symptoms of a shunt malfunction: vomiting, sunset eyes (constant squinting), lethargy. He had all of them. He had been rubbing his eyes and head for a couple of days so it dawned on me that he might have a head ache. I called the neurosurgeons office and spoke with a nurse. She said to call the Peds office to get an appointment. Josh's peds said that if he is vomiting and has a shunt, go to the ER. I called Mac and talked it over with him and we decided to take Josh in. The children's hospital here is in DC. I found a babysitter for Gavin (Thanks, Verity) and Josh and I drove to meet Mac at the hospital. Luckily, the nurse had called the ER prior to our arrival, so we didn't have to wait at all. Josh was back in a room before we knew it. I am so glad that they treat this kind of condition very seriously. The doctor on call came and talked to us and order a CT scan, an X-ray, blood work, and a urine test. The CT scan showed Josh's left ventricle in his head was enlarged. The neurosurgeon on call talked to us and decided to "tap" Josh's shunt. This is when they put a small needle into the valve of the shunt and see if they can pull back fluid. In this case, there was no fluid coming through the syringe. That indicated that the shunt was blocked... there was no way for Josh's fluid to get out. It was building and putting pressure on his brain. The neurosurgeon called Josh's neurosurgeon and he came quickly. Josh was in the Operating Room within 30 minutes. It was fast. By this time, Josh was laying lifeless on the table. He was not feeling good at all.

The top part of Josh's shunt was clogged. They replaced it and it worked again. The surgery took 1 hour. We had the bishop from our ward, our home teacher, and his wife come and sit with us while we waited for the surgery to be done. The surgery went well: The best 4 words a parent wants to hear when their child is in surgery. Here are some pictures of Josh and his cool scar!



We want to thank everyone in the ward who brought meals or called. Those who called the temple to put Josh's name in (I am so glad that the Hawaii temple is so many hours behind us, just for this reason), and those who prayed for our little family.

This little boy means so much to us. A miracle occured in our little family that day. Josh is a special boy. He makes everyone happy who comes in contact with him. I have heard numerous people tell me that Josh has touched their lives. He has definitely touched mine. He is in a way my hero. He makes me want to be a better person. I wouldn't trade Josh and his disability for anything. In a way, it is who he is. He is our little miracle.... and he keeps surprising us with that!