In the hospital again

James had a wonderful day yesterday. We went to Dr. Loice Swisher's house for the afternoon and James played bowling on the Wii, played outside with Loice's daughter, Tori, on the swingset, and cooked out for dinner. I'd say he watched Charlotte's Web also, but I think he only saw that from the inside of his eyelids. We really had a great time.





BUT, he woke this morning at 4:00 a.m. throwing up. I wondered if he had just over done yesterday and had planned to lay low today. But, he continued to throw up. I called Dr. Swisher who took us to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). By the time we arrived at the ER, he had thrown up 5 times. A CT scan showed that one of his ventricles is enlarged - meaning that the shunt is not working correctly. We knew that this was a possibility with his original resection of the tumor because of debris that would be left behind and could possibly block the shunt. He is now (2 pm) in surgery to clear the shunt. Normally, a patient would go home the next day after a shunt revision, but James' sodium was also too low (121, normal is around 140). So, it is probable that he will stay in longer.

We appreciate your prayers for James