[Elspode]

We're discussing what else to try and do for him to make it a little cheerier. He's getting rather depressed, I'm afraid.

His mother is with him tonight (I spent last night until about 1:30 this afternoon), and she saw the doctor, who didn't make rounds until nearly 6:00. The neurosurgeon incised his abdomen and pulled out the lower portion of the shunt tubing (essentially, the output/drain end which runs into his peritoneum) and is allowing it to drain externally so that he can more easily sample the CSF and check its flow rate.

However, the neuro has pretty much determined that, once the infection is beaten back in a couple of days, he is going to remove the entire now-revised but possibly malfunctioning shunt installation, and implant a new one from scratch on the left side of his head.

Strange as it sounds, this is the more conservative approach as he will be operating with uninfected, untraumatized tissue, and will have control of the assembly from start to finish. It will, however, mean drilling another hole in his skull, and pullng another set of tubes subcue.

We're already pretty tired around here. It is hard to work full time and be in the hospital full time. Send strength, please. We all need it, especially Steve.

I hate to be a mojo beggar at this time of year, when people already have enough going on , but...well, I'll whore myself for my kid if I have to. Who wouldn't?