Good News!

Luke was just seen by both Dr. Iantosca, the pediatric neurosurgeon who performed the surgery, and the Physical Therapist and Occupational Therapist. Dr. Iantosca removed Luke's dressing so we have gotten to see his incision for the first time. Dr. was pleased, Luke has some mild swelling that he said was less than what would typically be seen but that it will get larger and smaller as he sits up and lies down. He explained that as long as the swelling is soft not to worry. He should keep an ace wrap on his head to decrease the amount of days that the swelling will occur. Hydrocephalus (increase in fluid on the brain) is still a concern so we need to watch for signs of that occurring. He had Luke sit up and nod his head yes and no and said that he is moving much better than most kids and way better than any adult who has the surgery. He told us that we can go home today if we want to. Physical and Occupation Therapy had him walk down the hall and up and down a flight of stairs. This wiped him out-he was sleeping before the walk and is knocked out after. He did very well, but is not walking normally. His balance is off, which is not surprising after this type of surgery. They have recommended outpatient Physical Therapy and felt that he was doing well enough that he wouldn't require staying here longer for inpatient therapy. We have decided to wait until after lunch to see how Luke is before we decide to tackle the drive home. He has not had any IV pain medicine since last evening, which is a good sign that his painis improving and may be controllable with just tylenol.
If anyone is familiar with an outpatient therapy setting that is used to working with children please let us know. We will need to make these arrangements when we get home.
So far so good for today! We will keep updating as we can.