Goodbye Dr. Grant

Shelby and I drove to Durham on Sunday afternoon because we had an early Monday morning MRI appointment to get the new baseline on Shelby's brain and then a post-surgery follow up with Dr. Grant. We spent the night with my cousin Katy and had a good time hanging out with her and her boyfriend Pat. Pat's yummy mojitos helped me shake off the 6-hour car ride due to the interstate being shut down for bridge work. The MRI was at 6:30 in the morning Monday. Shelby did not have to be sedated, but the whole thing was a horrible experience for both of us. I had to lay on top of her to pin her down and hold her head in place and as still as possible while she thrashed and screamed for daddy (going into the machine with her) so that they could get a decent scan. My daughter is strong--and terrified of medical people messing with her, which is completely understandable. We had a nice breakfast after that with Katy and then headed to clinic to see Dr. Grant. Shelby's brain tissue has grown back amazingly well since the shunt revision. We're hoping to see lots of progress in her motor skills because of this over the next several months. We're also hoping Shelby can keep this new shunt for a good long time. This was our last visit with Dr. Grant, who has been Shelby's neurosurgeon since she was an infant. From the very beginning he has been kind, patient, easy to communicate with, and full of hope for our Shelby. We will certainly miss him and wish him luck at his new position as chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Stanford. We're switching Shelby to Dr. Muh at Duke, and will follow up with her in a year to check on Shelby's shunt.

Shelby and me killing time in the car while we sat on I-40 for TWO HOURS...we listened to Justin Timberlake and some other faves (Trip wasn't in the car to fight us on music choices). 

Yummy Mojito...thanks Pat!