Doctor's Visit Friday Afternoon about 2:45 p.m.

Dear Family and Friends:

Well, Sofia has been sleeping most of the day. She is eating some and drinking a little more today than yesterday. So that is good. She is still in much pain and it hurts her to move too much. Some of you have called to talk with her, however, this is really too much for her to focus on a phone conversation. She is talking well to me and those here, but it takes effort. I would think that by Monday or Tuesday she may be ready to talk, but we will wait and see.

When we came here, the tumor had grown to a size that it had closed down some of the flow of the fluid in her brain. The major reason initially for the surgery was to unblock the obstruction and allow the fluid to flow. The back up of fluid caused her brain to be "squashed" (this is not a medical term, but something I made up :) ) within her brain and was swelling the brain area. with too much pressure. The Doctor had to go in and place what is called a shunt, which is something like a drain hose, into her brain to drain the fluid into a bag outside her body. Normally the body absorbs the fluid, but since there was an obstruction to the flow there was no absorption. The shunt acts in a manner of draining the fluid out of her body. At this time she is still putting out a lot of fluid which means that there is still obstruction in her brain that could not be removed by the operation.

Now there is more flow, but still little absorption. Since I am not a doctor I am not sure I really have this exactly right, although I believe I am fairly close. Since she is still draining so much fluid it appears like she will have to have a second operation. The second operation would be to place the shunt within her going from her brain into her belly for elimination of the fluid. This will mean going in where the shunt is currently and opening that part of the brain up a little more and then a small incision behind her ear with a small tube about the size of a spaghetti noodle running right under her skin and then a third incision into her belly.

Normally when someone has this done, it is only an overnight stay. In Sofia's case, since she has just had the tumor removal, they will keep her a few days after that operation. We still do not know exactly what we are dealing with until Monday. On Monday we will have another CAT scan and receive the lab results.

It appears like Sofia will remain in the hospital at least until next Friday or even till Monday week, depending on how everything goes.

The Doctor said he actually had the lead Doctor (the head of oncology) that will take over Sofia's case at his house for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and they discussed Sofia's case, however, they do not want to make any decisions until we are absolutely positive as to what we are dealing with.

At this point Sofia is actually presenting very well, with NO complications from the brain surgery itself which in and of itself is a blessing and much Thanks to God for this.

Sofia will remain in ICU the whole time, so it is not possible for her to receive any flowers. I will be leaving tomorrow and her friend Teresa will be here for a day. Then Sofia's sister Lizzie will come for a while. I do not know how long she will be able to stay. We will all continue reading any comments and thoughts you may post to Sofia here at this blog.

My great Thanks to God our Father for His precious love to us and His touch upon our lives.

In Him- susan carroll