Thursday

My dad is back home!  His strength has improved but the balance/dizziness is still a problem  He is having difficulty walking because of it.  The doctor suspects Menierres (spelling?) disease, which is a problem with the inner ear.

I woke up with my head hurting quite a bit more today.  I did have my appointment, though!  The best part is that we really liked the neurosurgeon and he adjusted the shunt!  We went into it pretty skeptically but were quite pleased.  He did x-rays to see if there was anything visibly wrong with the shunt and tubing and he couldn't see anything.  He adjusted the shunt down four notches (which was exactly the setting that Kyle and I were hoping for but didn't verbalize) which will decrease the pressure a little.  The big question now is whether that will make a difference.  Anticipating that it won't take care of it, he is scheduling a spinal tap next week.  JH was going to do one of those a couple weeks ago when I was there but then did the ct scan and decided not to.  The doctor would have done the spinal tap today but I had taken a Toradol shot this morning which also acts as a blood thinner so it wasn't safe to do so.  He wasn't alarmed by my medical history, asked questions for good reasons and seems very willing to work with me!  What a huge answer to many prayers!  He was knowledgeable, kind and will work with me which is a package that is hard for me to come by!!