oren had a ct scan and follow up with his neurosurgeon today. he handled getting the iv well (for the contrast fluid to be pumped into his veins for the ct scan to show blood flow). he was still for the scan and they got a good picture–he’s an old pro, i suppose.

at the neurosurgeon’s office we met up with the resident who we saw most often while we stayed at the hospital in december. she and oren get along well even though she gave him his stitches without any anesthesia and then removed them too. they are happy with his progress. she showed me the scans from 12/14 and today. there are two blood vessels at the site of the dent (fracture) that have gotten much bigger, so it is very apparent that the brain is doing its work and increasing circulation where it is needed. that amazes me, quite frankly. it amazes me that it was something i could witness too, and not just take the doc’s word for it. to me, even something like this that is considered the normal healing process is miraculous.

the main doc said that he’s passing along oren to a neurologist since he doesn’t think he’s a surgical case anymore (yay!). he said that they are familiar and comfortable with weaning a patient off of diamox, something that he admits he is not comfortable doing. we will probably see the neurologist in a month, and another appt with the opthomologist in that time frame too, so i hope that by then we actually WILL start weaning oren off the meds. the drug itself is harmless, but oren really doesn’t like getting blood sucked out of him once a week (he has to have his electrolytes regularly checked because diamox is a diuretic). so far, after a month, his electrolytes have been fine… we wish now they didn’t have to check so often.

i was reminded today by one of the technicians who scanned oren of what a unique case his was… she and some other people remembered him, the kid who fractured his skull from falling backward in his chair. the kid they didn’t want to operate on. it was a bad accident, but here on the other side, we’re feeling very blessed at how far that seems from us now because oren is doing so well. at some moments, we can witness that God made our bodies amazing. even here and now, we are still able to see the goodness of creation peeking out through the dark places.

Posted on February 1st, 2010