Wednesday, December 15, 2004

The Day After

Michel is doing very well. She got up and walked around a bit and they let her eat a regular meal for supper (ziti with meatballs). Surgery is tomorrow at 7:30 AM. This surgery will definitely be the worse of the two as they have to cut through the muscles in her neck to get to the section of her brain that they need to work on. If everything goes well they spring her on Monday or Tuesday.

Here is the picture of the day. Rather than post it I have linked to it because some people may be a bit too squeamish to look at it. The doctor came to change the bandage and while he had Michel's head exposed I got a shot. You can see the two incisions in the picture. The larger one on the top of Michel's head is shaped like an upside down "J". At the top of the "J" is a bump under Michel's skin. That is the shunt. You can see the second incision by Michel's ear. The incisions are held together with staples (and yes, they do sometimes use a glue stick). Michel has another incision in her abdomen but I didn't get a shot of that one.

The shunt itself is an amazing piece of technology. It can be set to let more or less fluid flow through it as needed. They use a magnet to change the setting so that they don't have to operate again.

I just want to add a special thanks to the gang at JavaRanch. I appreciate all the good words of support and the beautiful flowers and the teddy bear. You guys and gals are the greatest!

6 comments:

Helen said...

The top of Michel's head looks beautiful too. I really think you, Thomas, should take up the Buddhist look too. Thoughts and prayers for the next.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the next op, we are all sending positive thoughs and/or praying !!

Johannes de Jong

Anonymous said...

Hang in there Tom! You're right, she IS beautiful. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery: )

Best wishes, Kathy and Bert

Jeffrey Goble said...

I guess I really need to start checking your blog every day. I'm glad this is going well. Michel, it's nice to finally "meet" you, headfirst, as it were. I'm glad to see that some relief has already occurred. I hope you both know that your family is in my prayers and thoughts, often.
Jeff

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