Back Home At Last

Braden is back home again. This latest episode was tough to take, just mainly because we had all gotten comfortable and felt the worst was behind us. We tend to forget how early he was born and the complications we may face down the road. We have both good and bad news...I guess we'll start with the bad first...Braden does have 4 fresh scars on his head, one was already there - just reopened, to go along with a existing scar. Good thing is they will heal, just painful to look at right now. We think he is in some pain, which is to be expected. There was two-thirds of an ounce of fluid drained from his rear ventricle of his brain. That pressure relieved has caused everything to kind of shift back into its original place. That can't be comfortable. Braden is taking baby tylenol and ibuprofen, but mainly he just needs to comforted by loved ones. That always seems to work best.

Now for the good news....Within 24 hours of his surgery we started noticing changes for the better. First off, his soft spot on the top of his head was just that, soft again. As you may have noticed in many of his pictures, Braden is very often looking to one side or the other. Now he is looking straight ahead and focusing on what or who is in front of him more. Not being doctors, only speculating, it seems like maybe some of that pressure build up was affecting his eyes. He will stare you in the eyes now and this just started, hard to imagine its just a coincidence. Also, he is laughing and smiling more, again seems unlikely to just be a fluke. We think that pressure being relieved helped almost instantly. Now, as long as the shunt continues to perform it's duties, we can move past this and just continue to get better and better.

We want to thank everyone for their continued interest in Braden's condition. Without the consideration and support of family and friends, this would be a near impossible hurdle t face alone. Braden is so lucky to have such loving family who have traveled from Denton, Plano, Galveston, Sherman, and even the state of Tennessee to be with him. I know they would say all the trips and calls were no problem and they wanted to do it, but we know it can be a strain, physically and financially. Long distance calls and gas aren't cheap, so again we are very lucky. Also, we can't say enough about Braden's newest family member - Gammy. Shirley watches Braden during the week along with 2 other babies (Braden's best friends Sam & John). Her and her family have went out of their way to come to Braden's Baptism, visit him in the hospital and at home. We got very lucky to have crossed paths with them.

Thanks again,
Steve, Annie, & Braden