Post Surgery Information

Whew...it has been a L.O.N.G. day!

We can not even discuss what a ROCK STAR Charlie Claire Bear is! She rocked out brain surgery like no other! We also need to discuss what a ROCK STAR Dr. Tye (neuro surgeon) is! He was super duper pleased with how the surgery went!

Surgery in detail:
- Dr. Tye (who we LOVE by the way!) said that the surgery went exactly how they thought as far as what they had to remove
- CC lost A LOT of blood and did need a transfusion
- They placed the grid on the front left side of her brain and all looked good.  Then they checked out the back area of her brain - her motor strip and sensory strip showed some spikes on the EEG but Dr. Morton (neurologist) thought it looked like normal motor activity, not seizure activity. They felt most comfortable leaving the grid on those two areas because they didn't want to take anything out that didn't need to be removed.
- They woke Charlie Claire up in the OR and she was moving both her left and right symmetrically which is awesome
- The surgeon, neuro and anesthesiologist all LOVED that C was immediately trying to pull her breathing tube out! They said she is quiet the feisty girl...wonder who she gets that from?!! :)

Currently:
- Charlie Claire is SWOLLEN from all the blood and fluids she received during surgery but is as cute as EVER!
- She is resting comfortably in the PICU with her daddy and Mimi will be staying over night with her tonight.
- They are giving her pain meds to keep her sedative over night so she stays comfortable and gets some rest.
- All her vitals look good - her BP was a tad high so they did give her a med to bring it down but they said that was very normal

What's next:
- They dr's felt best leaving the breathing tube in over night since Charlie Claire had a "long day"
- CC will have a CT scan in the AM to make sure everything looks okay.  If everything does then the breathing tube can be removed.
- Charlie Claire will stay in the PICU instead of going to Epilepsy Monitoring Unit because the MCV staff thought she was a little young to go there and felt best leaving her on the pediatric floor.
- By Friday the neurologist should make the decision on whether or not C needs to have more brain removed or if all looks good - they will start to wean some of her meds and start stimulating her to see what happens on the EEG.
- CC will be having surgery again on Wednesday (4.6) to either remove more area or just remove the grid.  Dr. Tye said if they do need to remove more this will be a much easier procedure since they will have a "road map" from the grid.  If all they have to do is remove the grid it will be a short procedure.

We could not have gotten through the day without our AMAZING family and friends! We had such a great support system at the hospital with us as well as support from all over the WORLD!!! We loved getting all the TEAM CC pictures, emails, texts, facebook posts, etc! CC has no idea how loved she is! We can not thank everyone enough.  PLEASE keep the good thoughts, prayers, etc. coming...CC is going to have a rough/busy few days ahead!!!