Surgery Done

Cole had his surgery today and everything went well. It took them a little longer than they expected, which was hard for Dalynn and I to endure, but in the end everything came out OK.

We had a shock this morning when they said that Cole had the condition meningitis. I say condition because meningitis is actually a condition with many causes. It means he has an inflammation of the meningeal lining (I think that's what it's called), and the likely cause is that the infection in his lungs and heart has also infected the meningeal lining (that's the lining around your brain). It showed up as white blood cells, which were not leukemic, in his spinal fluid.

The incredibly preliminary results are that it is a bacterial infection (as opposed to a fungal infection), which is good. It means it can be treated with antibiotics. We'll know more tomorrow once the cultures have had a chance to grow.

I'm sure we're going to be here a while, this time, probably through Christmas, but that's OK with me, now. I just want Cole to get on the other side of this and get well, so that he can continue his treatment and beat cancer.

As I sit and write this, Cole is sleeping soundly in his nifty bed, his pulse a low 135 and his O2 stats in the high 90s. To most of you, this won't mean much, but to us, it means all is well, at least right now.