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Paton's out of surgery, and doing pretty well. The neurosurgeon placed a "V-P Shunt" in the little fella. It runs from the back of the right side of his head (from the Ventricles) down into his abdominal cavity (the P-word which I can't remember at the moment). Hopefully the level of resistance in the shunt is less than the resistance in the pathway into the pocket on the back, so that it will not continue to fill up and then possibly put pressure on the brain. There is a fairly small but significant risk of infection (8%) with this surgery. There is also a possibility that the body will reject the shunt, as it might any foreign object in the body. We have a friend whose body rejected three different shunt attempts. However, at the moment the little fella's doing all right, and resting as long as mom is holding him. She doesn't mind. : ) We made a friend here who's baby also has a shunt, so the kids all got to see what it would be like. We have yet to come up with a good nickname for the little fella -- "little fella" might not seem quite right a few years from now. Yesterday the kids came up with "milkshake." Hannah is "cheeseburger", David's "chicken nugget," and Charis is "small fry." Not so sure those'll stick, either. We're just praying Pate Pate'll have a restful night tonight. Thanks again for all your prayers.
