Sophia: A third surgery may be necessary

This update came very early this morning:

Today it was a tough day, with the news of a new complication. This morning they did a CAT scan, following up with the blood clot problem, making sure there wasn’t a hemorrhage, etc. There weren’t any hemorrhages, but there was something new. This is what I learned this afternoon. The brain has cerebrospinal fluid contained in a system of fluid-filled cavities (ventricles), that are connected by “channels”. Two of the ventricles are supposed to be the same size, but before the surgery, and because of the tumor, one of these ventricles in Sophia’s brain was bigger than the other. After the tumor was removed, the ventricles got back to being the same size. On today’s CAT scan they discovered that one ventricle was back to being bigger than the other, and they found a blockage in one of those channels, which is causing the fluid not to flow properly. At this point they are not sure what the blockage might be, it could be tissue. So, they are talking about the need of performing another surgery to remove that blockage!. They would have to cut the skull again, this time about the size of a quarter, to put a tube with a scope to check the blockage and remove it. As you can imagine, this was devastating to hear. As Veronica was saying, we are not out of a problem when another complication arises, and it’s so hard to stay positive sometimes. Another MRI will be done tomorrow or Wednesday and we’ll have more information after that. Sophia finally slept better today. This evening she had dinner
and went for a little walk to see the fish tank. It was wonderful to see her doing that, and it’s always a blessing to see her smile. She is still restless and moans while asleep, but she did sleep more peacefully than she had done since the surgery. Other than that, the rest is the same, the blood clot is still there, they are still trying to figure out and balance the right medications, they work on her physical therapy and we need to wait …

Please continue with the flow of prayers. It’s getting harder and harder for everyone as time goes by, the progress seems so slow and the complications keep coming. I ended up with my mother in the emergency room last night until 1:30AM. The stress caught up with her and her heart problems, but thankfully she’s okay now, with just more medication. As always, please let me thank you from the whole family for all your love and support. Thank you to everyone that is working so hard to make the life of my sister and brother in law a little easier. Last night they were
overwhelmed by your generosity when they found all those packages and groceries at home. And to all of you that pray so hard for Sophia and the family: thank you!!!!. It would have been unbearable to go thru this without all of you, and I know that I can say that for Veronica and Scott because we have discussed it so many times. I also know that I couldn’t have stayed the “cheerleader” for long if it wasn’t for all your prayers and support. I will let you know as soon as they do the MRI and we learn more about the next step. God bless you all, Daniela