Niamh's 5th brain surgery

Niamh was quite unsettled through the night, her heart rate was v unstable, up and down indicating some pain somewhere. She had some painkillers in the middle of the night (delayed as painkillers hadn't yet been prescribed and they had to wait for a doctor to come and prescribe them). It did help a little. Around 5.30am she was sick, ng tube came out. It seemed pressure related. She then fell asleep in my bed, gradually squeezing me out of bed. She woke up around 8.30am, at first happy but they became unsettled and drowsy. She seemed to struggle to stay awake. At 10am she was sick again even though she had been starved since 2am.

Luckily she was called into theatre around 10.30am. I had explained to Niamh what was going to happen. She was amazingly calm all the way to the pre theatre room. She did not cry when she saw everyone in their funny pyjamas and colorful hats. She remained calm and went to sleep peacefully.

Then began the wait. We are now used to long surgeries so it was a shock when we bumped into the surgeon in the staircase at 12.30. He told us the surgery had been straight forward, all went well.

We were called into the recovery room before they started to wake her up. It was nice as it meant that Caitlin and I could gently wake her up. she was back on ward 10 by 1.30pm.

She has been relatively settled this afternoon. She was very red in the face, patchy red, when we first arrived. The nurse was worried about an allergic reaction but luckily it disappeared on its own. She is moving all her limbs. Her right leg is still showing some weakness. Hopefully it will gradually improve. We have had some smiles, some nice interactions and even some cheekiness. She was awake all afternoon and has only just fallen asleep.

The surgery was the third attempt at controling the pressure in Niamh's brain. The surgeons put a vp shunt in the left ventricle of her brain which drains in her tummy (on the right, same as before). She is badly bruised on the left side of her neck where they had to tunnel the line.

They have taken some fluid from the left ventricle for testing. We should know over the next couple of days if there is any disease in the fluid.

Niamh will also have an MRI scan on Monday to check the pressure in her brain(fluid) and also to investigate the 'suspicious bit' seen by the surgeons on the CT scan.

Not quite the week we had expected. She is doing fantastic as usual. Thank you for all your kind messages.

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