Update on Lixier

Our baby boy with hydrocephalus has been back in Haiti for nearly a month now and doing well, until last week, when his mom paid us a visit. She was worried that Lixier's shunt was infected again. The shunt was infected once already while he was still in the states but they were able to replace it before he returned to Haiti. An infected shunt in Haiti is a death sentence. The only pediatric surgeons to come to Haiti are visiting ones, who spend little more than a few weeks of the year in the capital city. The only option would be applying for another emergency medical visa and trying to get Lixier back to the states for a replacement. With the help of Dr. Brodie and Dr. Stern from the states, we were able to get a few replacement shunts sent down to us. However, we would still lack the most important part, someone to perform the procedure.

Luckily, a visiting doctors group was here when Lixier's mom came by. Within minutes, we had a neurosurgeon from the states on the phone instructing us on how to "tap" the shunt (withdrawing cerebral fluid to determine if there was indeed an infection). The fluid was to our relief, crystal clear, meaning that there was no apparent infection.

It's hard to believe that Lixier is already 8 months old. It's been nearly 5 months since I helped get him a visa to the states and he looks great. I realized that day, as we were performing the "tap" how much it would affect me if we were to lose him after so much effort was put into saving him. It wouldn't be easy.