David, Hope, and I made a trip to Indy today, the first one since Hope was born. We went to see Dr. Young, our pediatric neurosurgeon. We went into the visit hoping to get an idea for when he would like to do surgery, and wanting to ask what he thought about her encephalocele getting larger, which it has over the past weeks.
In the first few minutes, he took care of all our questions. He walked into the room after reviewing her chart, and his first comment was, "We need to take care of this." He said that the most likely reason her encephalocele is bigger is because she does have some hydrocephalus. In her case, instead of the excess fluid putting pressure on her brain and causing damage, instead the pressure is simply making her encephalocele larger. Because her encephalocele has grown, and because we will be moving in mid-July, he asked us if we would be willing to do the surgery soon rather than later. We agreed, and he went to consult his scheduler. When he came back, he told us that he will be doing the surgery this Monday, May 23. He will be coming in on his day off to do the surgery for her.
May 23 will be our 9th anniversary. It is certainly bittersweet to be doing her surgery on this day. Honestly, what we keep coming back to, though, is the fact that we have so, so much to be thankful for. We are thankful for 9 years of marriage, and we are thankful for our five children. We are thankful for modern medicine and technology, health insurance, and a doctor using his day off to help our daughter. We are most of all thankful to God, who has blessed us so much with the birth of Hope. Every day with her is a blessing, and just by saying that, we realize that every day with our other children is just as amazing. We treasure the good gifts He has given us.
Please pray for us this week. Pray that Hope will be strong for surgery and stable afterwards. Pray that we will know soon if she has hydrocephalus that needs a shunt. Pray that we would continue to give praise and honor to God in every circumstance of Hope's life.
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2 comments:
Praying for you all, especially little Hope. And rejoicing that the Father of all hope has her in His mighty, healing hands.
Chris and Dave Finnegan
Thank you for the Hope update! We think of her so often and it's nice to have a direction for my prayers. Love from Arizona.
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