Martin & Laura

Many of you know Martin and Laura Elvington from our community, but you may not know that last spring Martin had brain surgery to remove a tumor that was in the central area of his brain. In order to get it out they had to go in through his nose, this caused a great deal of trauma to his nasal passages. He was in and out of the hospital with infection and complications, but finally shunts were put in his brain in order to drain the build up of fluid, so that he wouldn’t need to check into the hospital, and his body would rid itself of the excess of fluid. This is a pretty typical solution, but still brain surgery.

Last fall Martin went the radiation to keep the tumor from coming back, and has since been feeling better, and getting his bearings back.

This past Wednesday we got word that there had been some drippage from his nose, they determined that it was a CFF drip which implies that is wasn’t just a stuffy nose, but actually brain fluid. They determined that probably one of his shunts isn't functioning correctly and will need to correct that. This means going back into his brain. Although this isn't horribly complicated, it is brain surgery which can open him up to infection. The following is the latest we heard from Laura:

"i have a few new pieces of information. they are almost positive that he has a malfunction in one of his shunts and they open to do surgery at the beginning of next week. until then, he will have to have a lumbar drain (out of his back) and just hang out here this weekend. he's in no pain right now so we are just praying that he can get thru the weekend without contracting some life threatening disease (like last time). i guess that's it.

Laura

Although they didn’t do the lumbar as of last night since they needed to do a cat scan first, surgery is still looming and they are still doing tests and figuring out the best thing to do.

I believe it is safe to say that they covet your prayers at this time. Thanks in advance for them!