Nolan's 4th brain surgery

Please note that I am re-telling Nolan's story to raise awareness for Pediatric Cancer.

It seemed every scan revealed something bad.  This MRI showed another brain bleed.  This time on the other side of Nolan's brain.  Thankfully this time his counts were good and Nolan's neuro-surgeon was able to drill what they called a burr hole.  He then placed an EVD (external ventricular drainage) to drain the blood that was collecting in his brain.  Nolan has had two EVD's and they are like torture!  You have to remain at a certain angle for HOURS!  What was worse is when Nolan came out of surgery he was ballistic!  Come to find out they forgot to give him pain medication :(  I was so upset!  How can you forget to give someone pain medication after they just had a hole drilled in their skull?  With lots of morphine we were able to get Nolan's pain under control and get him to be still.

Nolan during one of his breaks.

I loved to see him sitting up and smiling :)

The blood they drained off of his brain.

Nolan getting a blood transfusion.  Hanging on the IV pole by his bag of blood is his Beads Of Courage.  They went everywhere with him.

Nolan pretty much had to stay in a small room on the neuro floor.  These clowns came to cheer him up!

Nolan recovered from this surgery and still didn't miss his next dose of chemo.  He has always been able to make remarkable progress!  He likes to amaze people...lol