ER VISIT

The last two days we have noticed that Ella has been very fussy and has been spitting up about a ounce of formula. Which is very similar to when we took her in to have a shunt placed in her brain. I talked to the neurosurgeon Dr. Brockmeyer and he said that he would rather be safe and get a CT scan done on Ella. The only way to do this was to go in to the ER and have it done. The Doctors appointments were scheduled out to far and anything that has to do with the shunt and possible infection needs to be addressed asap. So I took Marian and Brayden to my parents and headed to Primary Children's in SLC. The whole way to the hospital Ella screamed. She screamed all the way into the hospital till we got to the front desk and that is where her ALL smiles came in. Ella was no smiles yesterday and than when she reached the hospital she started smiling. I am really thinking she had me go to the hospital to smile at the nurses and doctors. We went through a series of shunt tests to make sure that the shunt was not broken or had any type of infection in it. All the tests came back and things actually looked better than the CT scan we had a month ago. Her fluid was slightly smaller in her brain than the CT scan before. The doctors said that she must have a viral gastritis infection. Which there is nothing they can do about, we have to sit and wait it out. The doctor did explain to me how shunt infections happen, any bacterial infection can cause a shunt to get infected. Winter is the worse season to get bacterial infections, so right now she is high risk with her shunt and her heart. While we can wash our hands and only go around healthy people. It not so easy to keep her away from it, Matt and Marian could bring a bug home from school or work. Or it could even be caught just going to the store or outside. So all we can do is watch Ella and pray that she never catches a infection.
On the funny side Ella tried the whole hospital stay to take her tag off her leg as pictured above. It was so funny, she tried so hard to get it off. The doctors and nurses thought she was quite funny.
Ella in the last week has also started being really cuddly with me. When I pick her up and hold her she will lay her head down on my shoulder, with her hands wrapped around me. She is such a sweetheart. I am so glad that this visit went better than I expected. Now its time for her to get past this virus and get better.