The Journey, part 3

As some of you know, back in July I put up a couple of posts entitled "The Journey". I have not continued it for several reasons. Chief among them is the next part. It talks about what we were going through when we began to learn something was not as we expected it to be.

Some of you will have seen the email that is posted below. If you have not, I have finally convinced myself to post it because it is a story that can help others see that they are not alone in how they are reacting to finding out difficult news about their children.

"Howdy,

As all of you know, Tara and I have been attending our regular appointments for our baby girl Laura. These appointments have all been nothing but good to great news, until today.

Today at our regular appointment, Dr. Plavidal saw an enlarged ventricle in the left hemisphere of Laura’s brain. This caused him great concern. So much so, that he sent us to a specialist. The specialist, Dr. Kirshon, found an additional enlarged ventricle in the right hemisphere of Laura’s brain. When he took a look at Laura’s heart, he also saw a defect there. These two conditions combined, caused Dr. Kirshon great concern. Dr. Kirshon then told us the different possible scenarios about what is going on and what the cause might be.

The first scenario is that there is a defect on either the 13th or 18th chromosomal pair. This is the worst case scenario, because if this is the cause then Laura’s life is not viable. This scenario has us both scared out of our minds. Especially, since there is nothing that can be done. There is no surgery, pills or treatment that can fix her. Once she is born she will not have long to live.

The second scenario, is that there is a defect on the 21st chromosomal pair. In this scenario, Laura will have Down’s Syndrome. This is not all bad, as she will be a loving, happy child all of her life. How many of us wish we could be that lucky.

In the third scenario, the defect is on any of the other chromosomal pairs. If this is the case, a minor surgery will be done once she is born to repair the affected areas and she will have a long healthy life. We are holding on to this scenario, because rest of her development is right where it should be. Brain size, heart activity, head size, torso size and arm and leg development are all in line with a child in her 27th week of gestation. There is no clubbing of the hands or feet. There is nothing unusual about her head or face. Although these are secondary and we do not have a medical reason, we are hoping they are good signs for this third and least likely scenario.

To determine what the cause is, we had Dr. Kirshon do an amniocentesis. This will allow the doctors to see if it is a chromosomal defect causing these conditions. We should have the preliminary results before the weekend. We will get the final results in a few weeks. Dr. Kirshon has also arranged for us to have an echo cardiogram done. This will give us a better look at her heart, which will enable us to see what exactly is wrong so we can plan out the proper treatment. This will be done in two to three weeks. We are waiting to hear from Texas Children’s Hospital to find out when the appointment is.

We know that God has Laura’s entire life in His hands. We know that He will not put her, or us, through anything we cannot handle. We know that worrying does not add one more day to our lives. We know that He knows our hearts and our minds better that we do. We also know that when His people pray He hears it and He moves mightily. That is why we are asking for all of you to pray. Pray for Tara and I as we are emotional wrecks right now. We bounce form acceptance to terrified to blaming ourselves for what is going on with Laura. Please pray that He surrounds us and wraps us in His love, comfort and support. Please pray for the doctors that they are able to determine what the cause of these conditions are, so we can plan the best course of treatment. And most importantly, please pray that God protects our precious girl."

The above happened on March 25, 2009.

Just for dramatic affect I am going to wait until tomorrow to post the next part of the journey.