Back to the Front

We regret to announce that our little Eli is back in the hospital; we know not for how long. She's been ill for a couple of days--feverish, lethargic, fussy--and when Lia called the pediatrician this morning to ask about it, she was told to bring Eli to the ER, which she did. Medical personell performed a number of tests, and after a urine test indicated no bacterial presence, Lia was told that infection was not the problem. Further tests, however, conclusively showed that Eli is not suffering from a mere common virus; her white blood cell count, however, is high, sure proof of some kind of illness--in all likelihood, an infection of the shunt. The pediatrician wants to perform a shunt tap (where they draw some CSF from the shunt area to examine its contents, checking for infection), but first has to consult with the ever-unavailable neurosurgery team. Eli will have to stay in the hospital for at least a couple of days, perhaps indefinitely.