Something is wrong with Ty

On Wednesday, we were relieved.  We slept soundly for three nights in a row.  Then, last night, Ty was restless.  We originally thought he had a belly ache and I was worried that maybe he caught that horrific stomach bug that’s going around.  But, then Ty began saying that his head hurts.  Throughout the night it was getting worse and worse. 

Maybe he’s dehydrated, he really didn’t drink much yesterday?  Maybe he’s constipated and it’s causing pressure in his head when his stomach hurts?  Maybe he is getting a little cold and he has a sinus headache?  All night Lou and I shared these theories while we comforted Ty.  Finally, it was getting worse and we called the hospital. 

We are on our way to Urgent Care right now.  Poor Ty is crying the whole way telling me “it weelly hurts, it weelly hurts.”  This feeling of helplessness is the worst, most gut-wrenching feeling I’ve ever experienced, and I have felt it over and over and over again over the last 19 months.   He is so strong through his tears.  Lou has one hand on the wheel and the other holding Ty’s hand, and it’s almost as though Ty is comforting us instead of us comforting him.  He is the most beautiful soul. 

Knowing that Ty’s scan was beautiful and stable just four days ago allows Lou and I to feel less panicked in this situation.  We believe there is most likely a shunt malfunction that isn’t allowing the fluid in his head to drain properly.  That, or we are thinking he may have suffered another post-radiation hemorrhage somewhere in the brain that is causing swelling.  If it is a shunt malfunction, that may require another surgical intervention.  If it’s a bleed, steroids should be able to minimize the swelling rather quickly.  If there is infection or anything else like that… well, that would just suck.  All of this sucks, but we are hopeful that it will be easy enough to figure out what’s wrong and treat it fairly quickly.  I just want his pain to go away.