[Elspode]

Tonight, it was decided that Steve's shunt would be removed and a simple gravity flow temporary catheter emplaced to keep his ventricles drained. This is to allow a few more days of healing and kicking the staph infection's butt. Steve came through the surgery just fine (they just whacked him with Versed and gave him a local while he snoozed, so no general anaesthesia was necessary), and he is quite stable, if a bit bewildered at present.

The surgeon is looking at Thursday (yep, New Year's Day) for the installation of a permanent shunt to replace the removed system. In the meantime, Steve is required to be in ICU due to the need to keep his ventricular drainage under manual hourly control. This is tough on all of us, his families, because we will not be able to stay with him 24/7, as we have done since this all started. We're not real happy about it because what they are doing is very little different from what was being done while he was in a regular room, but somewhere, the current situation crossed someone's SOP line, and so ICU is where he will remain for the next three days at least. The visiting hours are very restrictive, and we will be constantly concerned about the level of care. ICU is the best care you can get in a hospital, or so it is assumed, but it can't possibly be better than having a parent in the room around the clock.

So, we again change gears, and now await the next phase on Thursday. We fervently hope and expect that the permanent shunt emplacement will go off without a hitch, and we plan on having Stephen home by Sunday. Now, if everything else just goes along with our plans, we'll all be able to relax just a little bit.

We thank you for your continuing support and energies. We ask that you keep Steve in your thoughts, prayers and rites just a bit longer.

Patrick and Selene