It's not as bad as it sounds, but it looks like Rachel will be spending another week here at Children's Hospital.
Her incision is still leaking cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) and the neurosurgery team has decided the best course of action is to re-open the incision first thing tomorrow (Wednesday) morning to find and fix the leak and also to install a temporary drain in her back. The drain will allow any excess CSF to leave in a controlled way so that it will not be trying to exit the incision. That will give the incision a much better opportunity to heal. It also means that she will not be restricted to staying horizontal -- a huge plus.
Dr. Mapstone said that the recovery from this surgery will be much easier than the surgeries two weeks ago. We are hoping that she will be able to stay in a regular room after the surgery and not have to spend time in ICU.
She has to stay in the hospital until they are able to remove the drain (then probably another day to monitor the healing process at the drain site). So that's why we are expecting her to be here another week or so.
Rachel is in good spirits and is being well taken care of here. We are so-o-o-o thankful that there are no signs of infection. At this point, the doctors are just trying to clear away the obstacles that are keeping her body from performing the normal healing process that God so amazingly designed into it.
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