An interesting week to say the least...

On Monday morning Lincoln would not put his right foot on the ground, and could not put weight on his right leg. Anytime he tried he stumbled around or just collapsed and fell, crying in pain. Something was definitely wrong. I called the neuro around noon, thinking that it was just a med complication and we would be told to reduce his dosage back to the level they were the previous week. Well at 4pm Monday I got a call back from the neuro saying that this was not something usual, and that a sudden change in walking (overnight) could mean something very serious.

So with visions of emergency brain surgery in our future, we were admitted to the hospital at 6pm Monday night for a whole host of tests. X-rays of the legs & feet that night came back normal. The MRI of the brain & spine the following morning alsso came back clear of any new tubers impinging the nerves of the spine, or of any changes in the tubers and astrocytomas we know are already in his brain. Big sigh of relief.

His MRI did show fluid on the brain, which is unusual, but the cause of which was not readily identifiable. We were told that it could be due to an infection in his brain or a side effect from a particularly bad seizure he might have had during the night on Sunday night. A lumbar puncture (spinal tap) on Tuesday night, to test the spinal fluid for infection, was contaminated with blood, so that was inconclusive. An EEG on Wednesday afternoon showed no real changes from prior EEGs, or any unusual signs of a particularly bad seizure causing temporary brain wave slowing. So we were left with a possible infection of the brain, which after 3 days in the hospital, did not seem to be worsening, or maybe a pulled muscle in his right legs, and the fluid in his brain is just an artifact of something else and is not related to his current leg issues.

Basically we don't know what is going on, but the leg issue does not seem to be getting worse, and the big bads (broken bone, tubers in the brain/spine, or worsening seizure activity) were all ruled out. We were sent home with a prescription of predisone to treat the possible infection, with motrin to treat possible pulled muscle, and a reduction in one of his seizure meds. Hopefully one of these is the answer, and Lincoln will be back to himself quickly.

Because of all of this, we had to cancel our cruise. We were able to get refunds from the hotel, airline, and shore excursions, but Carnival would not give us even a partial refund for thze cruise itself. So we ended up with a very expensive hospital family vacation, before we even get the actual hospital bills. Oh well. In the end, our childrens' health comes way before any trips to the Carribean.

Also, I was able to make the appointent for the CVS test in Phx on Tuesday, which went as well as could be expected. Andy stayed in the hospital with Lincoln & June all day...alone. What a trooper! :)