Kaiden and the worrying moment

After we brought Kaiden home he was very crabby (irritable) and was holding his head often. We called the doctors, who called Dr Shaik and although they allowed Kaiden to take both Paracetamol and Ibuprofen at the maximum dose they were not happy.

Figure: Kaiden at home, but on lots of pain killers
I was going down to London for business and the night before we got a call that they wanted to scan Kaiden to see if there was any problems. While I headed (driving some 450 miles) to London, Jadie was to take Kaiden into the hospital on the Wednesday.

Figure: Lovely weather for the trip to Reading, London

Wednesday 21st July

After the scan Jenifer Brown, the neurosurgeon, was round to say that the CT Scan had reviled that the fluid that was supposed to be draining was in fact pooling between his skull and his brain.
Now, although this was deemed to be bad, Jenifer had never scanned a patent after only a week, so did not know if this was just part of the normal rearranging of the brain. There is no air in your skull, so if the thin walls of Kaiden’s brain are moving around (as horrible a picture that presents) then the fluid would build there.
Jenifer opted to wait for a few days and scan him again on the Monday. If the scan showed the fluid dissipating and Kaiden was well then they would do nothing. If everything was not OK then they would operate immediately.
I decided that it was prudent to head strait back up to Glasgow and I arrived on the Friday afternoon and went directly to the hospital.

Friday 23rd July 2010

 
Figure: The same lovely weather on the way back
I needed to relive Jadie so I stayed in the hospital on the Friday and Saturday nights. We were back in Ward 66 at the Southern General and Jennifer had said that although she would get into trouble, she would make sure we stayed there.

Figure: I love my drum
Everyone at Ward 66 is fantastic and Kaiden and I had great fun playing, watching movies and watching the older kids play the Wii and PS2. They have a room with a shower set aside for the parents and a Parents room for preparing food and getting away from the ward. I could not praise Ward 66 more, not was there much to complain about. The food was really the only thing, but with the ability to make your own in the kitchen it was really a mute point. They don’t feed the parents anyway, only the kids.

Figure: Who needs a wee sleep, Kai does
I had forgotten to request Kaiden’s meds and he did fantastically without them. He was tired, but at least some of the would be due to boredom. I was surprised how well he did without any pain killers and it seamed that things were on track. One hiccup was on Saturday morning when he threw up, but I may have sat him up too quickly.

Figure: I love In the Night Garden
I headed home for Sunday night and Jadie took over. Evangelina (Kaiden’s older sister) was staying at the grand parents and they needed a break so I took her home, and dropped her off again to head back to the hospital on Monday morning.

Monday 26th July 2010

This was exactly two weeks after the operation, and for a boy who could not even roll over you would not believe what he did.
Figure: OMG, that's not just standing
Since his operation, in fact within an hour of it, he has started to pull himself up and seamed to have much more control over his legs.

Figure: Kaiden walking for the first time two weeks after his operation

The took Kaiden down for a CT Scan around 12pm and we then had to wait anxiously for the results. I managed to catch a sneaky look at the scans and they looked fantastic compared to the pre-operation MRI.
When Jennifer Brown came up to see us, she said that all the fluid was being absorbed and that she could not believe the difference in Kaiden in just two short weeks. She said that we would still have little niggles for the next month or so, but that everything looked fantastic.
Jenifer was happy to send us home, so we said our goodbyes to Staff, patents and parents alike and headed home.
The only thing we have currently noticed is that although Kaiden has always sleeped with his eyes open just a crack, this is ridicules

Figure: Kaiden fell asleep on the way home
Since we have been home he has been into everything and trying to walk. We are very impressed with his progress. Next appointment is just under 4 months…