Colin Loves Tractors » pseudomeningocele

Sword of Damocles

Mom — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:55:14 +0000

Colin is always full of surprises and has continued to not disappoint us. It would be funny if it weren’t so worrisome, with Friday bringing the need for another burst of medical education.

Friday, Colin had his two week post-op MRI to determine the disposition of residual tumor. As we all had suspected, there is a [...]

Rising Storm

Mom — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:24:53 +0000

On Sunday afternoon, I left Le Bonheur to pick up a few things at the grocery store, walking out of the sterile air into the openness of a springlike day. The sun was bright and the air a pleasantly neutral temperature, but the sky betrayed another mood in the dark gray distance.

By the time I [...]

Graceland in the Rain

Mom — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:42:47 +0000

Tennessee has been inundated with rain, and Sunday was no exception. Aidan was on a mission from his school back in Connecticut to take his class pet/take-home assignment on an adventure and then report back on it. We had no choice but to take “Elvis” the frog (stuffed animal, not live or, worse, soaked in [...]

First Chemo, Then Home

Mom — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 06:31:04 +0000

Colin has an official discharge date: Wednesday. However, in order to come home, he has to go through two days of hard chemotherapy (a shot of vincristine followed by a cisplatin IV on Saturday; a cyclophosphamide IV on Sunday). While the immediate effects will come and go before he leaves, it likely will take a [...]

Graceland

Mom — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:54:13 +0000

Colin has been at the center of a whirlwind of activity. He has continued to improve following the installation of the shunt. However, on Thursday morning, we noticed that his heartrate was unusually low (in the 50s). More alarmingly, it wouldn’t budge even with stimulation, such as moving, PT, suctioning, etc.

Even though there was a [...]

You Should See the Other Guy

Mom — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:33:18 +0000

Colin’s surgery on Monday went swimmingly, a marvel of coordination between the general surgery and neurosurgery teams. The doctors assembled in the play room and worked out which side of his body each would use; both involved tunneling procedures that necessitated that their lines did not cross.

In the end, the mediport went in on his [...]

A Room With a Poo

Mom — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:18:55 +0000

Colin finally found a way to get private digs at the hospital, but the unfortunate price is the contraction of a highly contagious infection. He must remain in isolation for eight days now. On Friday morning, he woke up and developed a fever with diarrhea. His nurse quickly suspected C. Difficile, which people typically get [...]

Busy, Busy Boy

Mom — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:59:21 +0000

Today, Colin was even more alert and had a busy social calendar. Aside from the requisite physician and proto-physician visits (more on this to come), he had two visits with the two music therapists, physical therapy, and his customary strolls.

Physically, his body is showing the effects of his long hospitalization, medication and period of inactivity. [...]

Two Steps Forward…

Mom — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:40:56 +0000

Today, Colin was definitely less sleepy although still quite congested and having a hard time keeping his oxygen saturation high enough. He received an oxygen blow-by all day and wore a mask when venturing out on the stroller. This required the hardware of an oxygen tank on wheels (absent the tank these tend to look [...]