Potential complications...

After last evening, Luke seemed like he was doing well. Today, however, was a different story. He seemed to get weaker as the day went on and he seemed to have less energy and slept most of the day. Rhonda took Luke's heart rate and it was about 60bpms every time she took it; she struggle to even find a heart rate. The third symptom was nausia and vomiting. Although he did eat this morning, he vomited his 3:00p spaghettio meal and at 8:00p he threw up the little bit of drink he was given. Tiredness, low heart rate, vomiting and fluid in the back of his head due to the surgery are all signs of hydrocephalus. She called the Hershey Neurosurgeon; he mentioned there was a good chance of this at first and recommended taking him to the local emergency room. After more discussion, he wanted Rhonda to monitor Luke through the night and take him back to Hershey tomorrow morning. Obviously, this is very upsetting for both Rhonda and me and Luke does NOT want to return back to the hospital.

At 10:30, Rhonda called our neighbors, Brett and Jennifer, both of which are Emergency Room Nurses and both have years of experience in the Intensive Care Unit at Nason and Altoona respectively. I've always liked our neighborhood because of the health care pros we have...especially the ER-types. Rhonda wanted them to double check Luke's heart rate which seemed to get lower and lower...57...54. We woke Luke up to get him aroused and take his medicine and get his heart active. His heart rate jumped to 107 bpm. This was good. It was interesting to hear the Rhonda and the three of them talk about the best course of action. They were very logical about what they were finding. Luke cried alot and resisted taking any medication. I got the kitchen timer and told him I'd let him set the timer from 0-10 minutes. He'd have to take his medicine within that amount of time or we'd force it down. When I gave him the timer, he quickly turned it to back 60 minutes. We all laughed! This was pretty witty for a sick 5-year old and little did he know he gave us a look into his neurological condition, ie he was thinking straight. Having checked his pupils and other vitals, listened to him cry, watch him walk and talk, and make us laugh with his wit, Rhonda, Brett and Jen felt a decrease in heart rate may just be normal for Luke. And his vomiting and weakness may also be normal in the post-surgery phase. Also, all those other factors (pupils, neuro, etc) did not deteriorate with the heart rate as one would expect if there was something really wrong. The course of action tonight was going to be check him every 2 hours. This was not far from what Hershey Neurologist suggested anyway...we were just going to do a little more monitoring than what they suggested. Brett and Jen graciously spent an hour with us and help put Rhonda and me at ease. We really appreciate them so much for doing this!