Jacob - 7 week follow-up

Yesterday, we spent the day in Iowa City meeting with neurosurgery ("The Boss" as Jake knows him) and otolaryngology for a 7 week follow-up. The overall report card was great. Both incision sites are healing fantastically, Jake is not experiencing any pain, and developmentally he has not missed a beat. However, the visit came with a couple of "bummer" moments. We were expecting to ditch the soft helmet after 8 weeks. The Boss noticed that Jake's legs were banged up from, well, being a 3-year-old boy and now he wants him in the helmet for 4 more months...6 months total!! Additionally, he highly recommended that Jake avoid swimming this summer so as to not take the chance of introducing any bacteria into his cerebral spinal fluid. One unexpected good note was that The Boss is comfortable tapering Jake off of the anti-seizure medicine over the next two weeks.

Otolaryngology didn't have much to add. They were very pleased at how the incision and open lesion on his nose are healing. And they reminded us to use as much of the strongest sunscreen as possible.

We go back in 2 months (July 11th) for another check-up. The Boss ordered a skull x-ray to check on the healing of the bone. I am holding out hope that with that information he will offer leinency on duration of wearing the helmet. We will also pop into otolaryngology since we will be there anyway.

I would like to give another enormous THANK YOU for all of the prayers. It is hard to believe that it has been 4 months since the diagnosis and almost 2 months since surgery. But we are forever grateful for everyone who offered their hearts to our family. We are so thankful that our trips to Iowa City are "easy", no hard news and no worrying. This is nearly behind us. I hope and pray that the Lord gives me the opportunity to take this opportunity and pay-it-forward in some way. He sure is amazing!!