If It's Not One Thing, It's Another

Nathan was released from the hospital the day after his shunt surgery.   Following this shunt revision, we were extremely optimistic that we were going to be free and clear from this point on.  In fact, we were very, very hopeful.

It had been less than 3 months since Nathan had been discharged from the NICU, and we had already been re-admitted to the hospital twice for shunt problems.  And this last time was so incredibly scary... So tt's definitely safe to say that things were not going like we had envisioned them when we were originally discharged from the NICU.

At the same time I don't think either of us expected "easy sailing" either.  But things were definitely a lot harder than we had been anticipating.  And throw in the added stress of the shunt failures, hospitalizations, and shunt revisions, and life was just a lot of worry and a lot of work.  So we were both emotionally worn out and physically weary and looking forward to a good long time at home with Nathan.

Unfortunately, those plans didn't pan out.

One night, only a week after Nathan had been discharged from the hospital following his most recent shunt surgery, life turned all topsy-turvy on us again.

First, we noticed that Nathan's heart rate was abnormally high...going at over 170 beats per minute.  That was our first clue that something was wrong.  Nathan's heart rate only went that high when he was really sick.

Second, Nathan had a fever.  And it wasn't just your run of the mill fever.  It was pretty high.  Over 102.  So we were worried.  In fact, we were very worried.

Fortunately, it was early enough in the evening that the after hours clinic at our pediatrician's office was still open.  So we called and let them know what was going on and told them that we were on our way.

The pediatrician on duty that night checked Nathan out and suspected that, most likely, the shunt had become infected.  Since it was most likely the shunt, he recommended that we go up to Primary Children's as soon as possible.  So he called the neurosurgeon on call at PCMC to let him know that we were on our way and would be at the ER in about an hour.