What's to come

Whew! What a day, we tried to mix in "normal" life activities with the hospital bit and boy did it leave me tired.

I was talking with some friends about Levi's progress and prognosis and I came to a realization that Dan and I hadn't included some key details about his current situation in previous updates, so here is my attempt to keep everybody up to speed.

Usually, kids with this type of surgery/tumor are hospitalized for several weeks and then sent home as good as new. In Levi's case the surgery went very well as far as tumor removal is concerned but along with the tumor came most all of the connective tissue for his pituitary gland which we've talked about a lot in regards to his hormone balances, etc. What perhaps we haven't been as clear about is tiny blood vessel that was damaged during surgery, which damaged a small section of his brain. The area that is damaged is known to control movement, specifically on the left side of one's body. At this point Levi cannot sit up on his own, cannot use his left hand or leg.

We have started therapy to restore these functions, but this healing will take time. I asked one of the therapists, "how long????". Her answer is all I have to go on and it as such; "I don't know". She went on to say that if she was presented this answer by someone she would think to herself, "Oh yes you do, you are just not telling me." I respect her humor and honesty, because it's exactly what I was thinking. I pressed her for some sort of timeline, just to wrap my head around what we may be dealing with and she said, "One to three months". Okay, so it was sobering to realize that we are looking at months rather than weeks, but it was good to have a general understanding of what we are looking at.

All that said, we are looking at moving to rehab on Monday. As with all things hospital, I won't be holding my breath, but I do feel that it is reasonable to expect that it may actually happen.

Oh, one other fun thing that happened today is that he got his staples removed. I walked in at the very end of the procedure and I have to admit that I am glad to have missed this event! I heard he took it like a champ! Now we can attempt a better wash of that beautiful hair.

Okay, off to get my well deserved rest.

Kara