Friday, November 28, 2008

Morning update (Friday 11/28): A lot of bad news

We've gotten a lot of bad news over the past 12 hours. Max's head circumference grew sharply yesterday afternoon; they tapped him again last night but only got 4 ccs of CSF. This suggests that, perhaps, his CSF is no longer communicating between the ventricles and the spine. And in the ensuing 8 hours his head circ grew again. No word yet on what the plan is.

His belly expanded enough to alarm everyone. They stopped his milk feeding and returned him to IV nutrition. They took an x-ray, presumably looking for signs of infection. That great medical authority, Dr. Google, indicates that people with cerebral palsy often have problems with their digestive systems. Who knows what's going on?

Finally, Max continues to retain fluid and appear somewhat swollen, despite efforts to change his diet, reduce is sodium and increase the protein content of his feeds.