I wish I was wrong...

Unfortunately, I was not. The doctor came in this morning and saw Grace. I told her right off the bat that I did not think Grace had the flu, or that if she did, it was not the only thing going on. I was ALMOST sure this was a shunt problem. She checked her over and said she would contact Dr. Silberstein when she got to the office. I said no. We needed to get something done right then. So, she contacted him, and he told her to do a CT of the shunt. On the way there, she was completely limp, and her eyes rolled back into her head again and she stiffened all up. I said "Does that look like the flu to YOU?" to the doctor. She didn't answer me. They got her out of CT and on the way back up, I knew she was having trouble breathing...no one else seemed to notice. We got back to the room and she had to be bagged because she wasn't breathing. Finally, people started to LISTEN and move. Before I knew it we were on our way to the ICU and then the scan was coming back that she had shunt blockage and failure. She would need to be life flighted to Rochester in the helicopter once they stabilized her. She was intubated and put on a ventilator. I never thought I would see her like this again. I was very faint and I almost passed out, so they made me sit in a wheelchair. They took us into a room in the ICU to start making arrangements to get to Strong. Our Pastor walked in and he took over, thank God. I was not even able to think straight, but he helped us get everything ready. Someone from the Childrens Miracle Network came in and gave me some money to help us get there. We thought we were getting ready to leave when Dr. Kung walked in. He's the only local neurosurgeon we have, but he doesn't usually do pediatric cases. Dr. Silberstein had him pulled out of emergency surgery to come and consult on Grace. He found HIGH intercranial pressure from the shunt failure and had to QUICKLY do a procedure in order to relieve some of it. So, she has a hole in the front middle of her skull, with an exterior shunt. Her head had to be partially shaved. At this point, they were ready to get her out of there. Nobody was able to fly with her because of the weight of the vent. Pastor wanted to, bless him...I am terrified of flying. A friend from church, Carolyn came to the hospital and drove us to Rochester. She got us there in record time. When we got there, they didn't let us in right away, but did tell us she was doing OK. Only 2 people are allowed in to the PICU for her ENTIRE stay...and Josiah is not allowed in the hospital at ALL because of H1N1. It's all for protection purposes, but it sure does make life more difficult.

What we know so far:
-She has probably had a stroke
-She has had total shunt failure
-Need to get her high temperature under control
-Will need to have a shunt revision once she is medically able

Thank you for your prayers.