Surgery Results

Thank you for your prayers -- the surgery was a success!

The surgery took about 7 hours and was done with an endoscope which means that the incisions were quite small. A shunt (drainage tube) was placed into the problematic cyst that is located in the center of his skull on top of the spinal cord. The shunt also traversed the back right of the skull were another pocket of fluid was located that needed draining. Therefore, the shunt will drain both of those fluid cavities. The shunt was then run down to his abdomen so now Jerard has two shunts that run from his head to his abdomen.

In addition, another temporary tube was inserted to drain the back left of his skull into an external bag. The doctor hopes to remove this tube in the next day or two after confirming that the back left pocket of fluid is draining properly via one of the other shunt systems.

Right now Jerard is awake and hungry though they might not let him eat until the morning (it is 7pm here) because he was anesthetized for so long. Beth is with Jerard right now.

Our hope is that these shunts will work as they need to and that Jerard will be cleared to leave the hospital in 3 to 5 days. Please pray with us along these lines and that no infections set in.

Surgery A Go!

Jerard's surgery for the arachnoid cyst will be tomorrow. Wednesday at 8a.m. Please pray all goes well.

Hospital Food

In that Beth and I have had the opportunity lately to dine on many hospital meals, I thought that I would share a little bit about our experiences, if only for the cultural value.

As "watchers" (bantay) of Jerard, we get three meals a day brought to the room (Jerard, of course, drinks milk that we bring him). The food is actually very good though with a distinctive Asian twist. Here is what we found so far.

  • Usually we have more than we can eat. Many times Beth and I have eaten the one meal and both of us have been filled. Of course, if I am the only one eating it, I somehow still seem to finish it myself.
  • There is always a cup of rice included in the meal whether it is breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
  • There is almost always seafood of some sort and many times there is a lot of seafood. I have never seen tuna prepared so many ways (all good). Also, I had the tastiest squid (calamari) the other day that I have ever had (the secret was in the sauce). Shrimp is common as well as just plain fish, sometimes with the head, fins, and tail still on. You have to pick through the bones at times. I really don't mind the fish watching me as I eat it :)

By the way, if it looks like there is no seafood in the meal pictured above, look again. Those aren't onion rings -- they are squid rings.

Surgery Rescheduled to Wednesday

We just found out this afternoon that Jerard's surgery has been put off by another day because the doctors were not satisfied with some of his electrolytes. He is on a special IV to help get them into balance. We are hoping that the surgery will take place on Wednesday.

In other developments, Jerard has acquired an amoeba infection so he is on medicine for that. He is pretty uncomfortable right now. It appears that he is bothered in his stomach or bowels.

We are on day 8 of this hospital stay so far. We would really like to be getting out of the hospital toward the end of this week after a successful surgery. That would be a prayer request. Thanks to everyone who is praying for Jerard and us. We are very grateful for you and how God is sustaining us by your prayers.

Surgery Scheduled

Jerard had a CT scan done this morning.

The good news:
His ventricals are re-opening. The fluid pockets with the drains are smaller.

The bad news:
Other smaller fluid pockets have developed.
But the most disconcerting finding is that the arachnoid cyst continues to grow larger. This cyst can cause the other problems (i.e. fluid pockets, down-turned eyes, etc...)

Jerard will have surgery on Tuesday to drain the cyst.
It will be done through an endoscope and will involve putting a shunt drain in from the cyst to the ventrical so that the CFS fluid building up inside the cyst can continually drain.

Jerard, overall, is in a healthy state. He has a slight fever but is on antibiotics and antifungal medications for the UTI he has.

Pray for Jerard to tolerate and come through the surgery well.

Pray for our finances as Philippine hospitals are cash-based.

Pray for our neurosurgeon and his colleagues assisting with the surgery. He and they are very caring, highly skilled men and we have complete confidence in their skills.

Pray for our family.

Thanks.