Spoke a little too soon...

On the whole "life returning to normal" thing. Remember the fluid I mentioned in the previous post? It's BAAACK. We noticed on Monday that the fluid seemed to be collecting in one spot on her upper incision on her scalp - not near the ear. There seemed to be more, as well, so we called for Dr. Reinisch. Bless the man - he took a call on his cell phone from a ski slope. He recommended we have it drained.

Thus began my Tuesday. I had a little trouble getting through to our pediatrician due to a LARGE miscommunication with me, him, and an advice nurse. I was looking for a recommendation on who should do the drain, and suffice it to say that didn't quite happen. We turned to Papa Gene. So, after waiting for a few hours to talk to someone at the peds office, only to be told they couldn't help me - we trekked it on down to the OHSU School of Dentistry where my Dad and one of his colleagues took care of things.

Once again, my daughter was a trooper. Dad and Dr. Ewick numbed the area with some topical cream, gave her a shot of local, and then drew out 15 cc's of old blood from her head (that's the equivalent of about 3 teaspoons.) Apparently it was a "liquified hematoma." Not urgent, but not exactly a good thing, either. Kelley didn't cry until it was over. She just kept asking about the defibrillator in the office. She was massively curious about how it worked and why.

Unfortunately, the pressure bandage my Dad put on came off during the night last night, and we noticed today that it seemed to be filling back up again. Dr. Reinisch's surgical partner, Dr. Lewin, told us not to get too worried about it, but to keep an eye on it and we may need to drain it again. We're going back to OHSU tomorrow so my Dad can look at it again and decide whether or not it needs another drain.

I haven't had a chance to e-mail Dr. Reinisch about all this, but I'll be very interested in his response. In the meantime, I did actually get to speak with Kelley's pediatrician, who apologized for the miscommunication and did give me a name or two of surgeons who could help. In retrospect, I should have contacted Kelley's otologist (ear doc) to begin with. Oh well. Live and learn.

I decided to spare you all gory pictures of a lumpy liquified hematoma today. Instead you get a happy picture of my three favorite people.

More updates soon.