Friday was supposed to be the day a 2-year-old injured by a tree limb left the hospital. Instead, Tripp Halstead is recovering from emergency surgery and a potentially deadly illness.
Tripp underwent emergency surgery Thursday evening, more than three months after being struck by a tree limb outside his Barrow County daycare. Friday he continued to recover, his family said.
"He has bacterial meningitis, which is very life threatening," his family posted around 3:30 p.m. Thursday on the Facebook page dedicated to updates on the toddler. "Words can't describe what we are feeling except total heartbreak."
The toddler, who doctors say is not contagious, was scheduled to have surgery at 7 p.m., but it was delayed about three hours due to the hospital’s operating room schedule, his family said. Tripp was out of surgery shortly before midnight.
Tripp has been hospitalized since Oct. 29, when he was rushed to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in critical condition. That day, he underwent emergency surgery to relieve swelling around his brain. He has continued to recover at Scottish Rite from the traumatic brain injury, but had been ill in recent days, his family said.
Doctors diagnosed Tripp on Thursday with bacterial meningitis and scheduled surgery to remove the toddler’s shunt and a pain pump, the family said. Friday, Tripp’s dad, Bill Halstead, said the boy has multiple levels of infection, but doctors are hopeful that the latest setback was found early.
Tripp is expected to return to the intensive care unit at the hospital.
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