Just a Little Weekend Drama

So a quick recap from yesterday...
Mark and I took Aida took to the emergency room mid-morning after some alarming (for a kid with a brain tumor) vomiting. By the time we got there, she had a fever that ultimately lasted through the night. She had been having some other concerning symptoms that made us nervous about swelling in the brain or something of that nature. (Her fontanel [soft spot] had been feeling "full" in recent days and had gotten worse, for example.) After a CT scan, the initial opinion was that her ventricles were enlarged, but it was stable enough to wait until today to address when all the doctors were in. They ran the normal labs which came back really good, but infection was a serious concern. (Remember her immune system is pretty impaired.) They did blood cultures, but they take a couple of days to come back. In the meantime, they started her on 2 antibiotics in the event that she did have an infection, and ultimately we ended up in the PICU for neurological observation overnight. On a side note, the doctors here are great, but the doctor from Cincy is fantastic and incredibly accessible. When I couldn't get in touch with people I wanted to here yesterday, she was available.  Then after the long day, she texted late last night for an update...and on and on. She is wonderful. I wish she were here!!!

And now today...
The blood cultures are still not complete, but the general consensus is that whatever caused fever and vomiting was probably viral - separate from any brain stuff which is definitely good.  As for the brain, we seem to be okay. The scan from yesterday was compared to previous MRIs, and it was determined that there had not been any significant change. That is to say, there had been some enlargement (which we knew) but nothing new...also good.  She wasn't able to eat from 2am until 10am when it was finally decided/confirmed that she wouldn't have any procedures. After that and a rough, feverish night, she ate and collapsed on Mark for a long nap - her favorite way to sleep. :) Her fever had broken middle of the night, so that helped. I got more sleep than I expected, but I still went home for a good nap while Mark hung out here. Since finally getting to eat, she seemed to feel much better...alert and happy while awake and sleeping well in between. The fontanel seems to be returning to normal as well which makes me feel better! Her blood numbers were up even more today too!

Honestly, there's a lot I still don't entirely understand, but for now I'm happy to know that she's  good.  We can always get more details tomorrow.  We are supposed to be moving to "the floor" (hematology/oncology where she normally stays) as soon as a room is available...apparently not tonight. PICU is actually better in most ways except that there's no bathroom in the room. Lame. Anyway, I expect we'd be going home, but she was already scheduled for surgery to remove one or more of the outside tumors on Wednesday. I didn't think they'd still do it, but assuming the cultures confirm she doesn't have crazy infections we're good to go. Crazy. So basically, we're in pretty much the same spot as two days ago except that neurosurgery is now "involved" and we have another good image to track where we are. I'm thrilled about all of that (wish it'd happened sooner and without all the drama), and I have a lot more peace of mind about all the symptoms we've been seeing. Maybe they're from the tumor or maybe they're side effects, but there's a little less worry about imminent danger. 

Time to wind down and get some sleep. Thanks for your prayers! We are believing for miracles!