Update: A ray of light!

First, Cannon asked me to thank everyone for all the prayers. They are working!

It's been a tough 24 hours. We found out yesterday that Cannon has staph bacterial meningitis. We have been extremely scared and worried, especially seeing him deteriorate so quickly since Friday. He has been in the PICU as a "no touch" patient, where every time they come in they have to put on masks, gloves and special scrubs.

After they could identify the bacteria, they have been able to adjust his antibiotics to target the strain and he has been responding. His temperature is back to normal. 

Then mid afternoon, Cannon had a PIC line inserted (basically a tube that goes from his arm up through his vein into his chest area) where they can easily administer the antibiotics, fluids and also draw labs. He was NOT happy during this as he was awake... and it was a sterile procedure done with ultrasound and was pretty painful for him. 

Then, the surgeons told us they wanted to schedule additional OR time in case they had to go back in to do a "wash out" - basically reopen his incision to ensure removal of any pockets of fluid that the antibiotic couldn't reach. None of us were happy about this. Last night they did an MRI to see where these possible pockets could be and we were told he would be operated on today (Thursday). 

As of this morning, the plan was still to go to surgery -- so we started prepping. Then about an hour ago, Dr. Heuer's team came in and gave us some good news: Dr. Heuer liked what he saw on the MRI and that additional surgery doesn't appear necessary. AND -- the syrinx (the pocket of fluid that had formed in his spinal column which is the reason he had to have surgery in the first place) appears to have already started getting smaller. 

So now Cannon is thrilled that he can eat -- and we just ordered 5 side orders of bacon. :)

A case manager will be coming shortly to talk to us about possible at home care for the remaining administration of antibiotics so hopefully we will have a plan to get him home soon. 

We are all completely overwhelmed by all of your love, prayers, offers to help the kids, and everything else. Words can't express how much they mean to all of us! This has been a very trying time for all of us and we are thrilled that he seems to be making a positive turn. We hope this means we are on the mend and will have more good news soon.