POWER....

God is SO GOOD!!!

Power = Fabulous Surgeon + Tons of Prayer

 

I know most of you aren't medical professionals so this might be hard to see, but I am going to try to walk you through it because I am in tears over this .....

 

 

This is a side by side view of May's MRI compared to today's

Same kid, same position.

Big difference, hu?

Even if you don't know what you are looking at I think you can see how DIFFERENT it looks.

But I am going to try and explain a bit of it....

 

So this is the May image.

It is a side view of Nathaniel's spine.

 

First, notice how curved and sharp his spine looks, not quiet normal. Lots of tension being put on that part of his body and making it all scrunched up. (yes, highly technical terms... give me a break! I am just a mom!)

 

Second, the red arrows are pointing to the black line coming down the spine. That black line is his spinal cord. The spinal cord should float free in the white area (that represents the spinal fluid that cushions and protects the spinal cord). There should be white on both sides of the cord, it should not be all pushed up against the vertebrae. The cord should also stop up by the top red arrow. Near the lower red arrow Nathaniel's cord was all bound up (tethered) and obviously had been for some time with as stretched out it is (this according the doctor who showed me these images this afternoon). This alone should have caused Nathaniel a LOT of pain and considerable functional problems.

 

Third, the green arrow. Notice the big grey blob all pushed up against the cord and in the white area that should be filled with fluid? That so shouldn't be there. That is the main epidurmoid cyst that Dr. Sun first noticed. It is hard to see in this big image, but take my word from seeing the other images, it was a tangled up MESS in there. So crazy a mess I couldn't wrap my mind around how he was going to untangle it all without hurting something that shouldn't be hurt. But I had faith, complete faith. The Lord brought us here for a reason.

 

Then there are the yellow arrows. Those are the arrows that really shocked us all. That WHOLE area should be white (again representing spinal fluid for the cord to float in). There should be ZERO grey in that area. The grey represents debris in there preventing the fluid from free flowing and pushing up against the spinal cord. In this case we believed all of that grey was little epidurmoid cysts.  LOTS and LOTS of those little buggers! Seriously, I can't tell you how many times I have heard these people say they have NEVER seen this extensive of a case. These little buggers are what had everyone worried.

 

Yesterday I got a chance to talk to a few people that were in the OR with Nathaniel and Dr. Sun. The stories that they told. Oh my. Since I have learned about the cysts my prayer has been that they would just all sort of tumble out when he opened up the area. We had no way of telling if they are bound up or free floating, so the prayer was free floating as it would make them easier to remove.

 

One doctor told me it "It is always amazing to watch Dr. Sun work, he is meticulous, but this time ... wow. The tether and big cyst was a MESS and he was so patient and just kept dissecting it all. It was so late and we had been in the OR so long before he turn his attention to all of the other cysts. We all thought we should close and come at it again another day, but Dr. Sun wanted to try. The first few cysts he lifted out were crazy. They were even growing hair! But they just lifted out. They came out so easy that Dr. Sun decided to suction them out... and it worked! It was crazy.... like pebbles coming out of a vase." This brought tears to my eyes. Did you know that is the EXACT description that I used so many times in my prayer? The doctor had no way of knowing that, that was God validating my prayers, throwing the same verbiage right back at me!

 

Tears.

Our God is SO AMAZING!

 

So here is today's image... let's see if I can walk you through it in my same silly mommy way.

 

 

First... look at how relaxed the whole area looks. I just feel better looking at this image.

 

Second... look at the red arrow pointing to the spinal cord. Notice how it is free floating in the center of the white area? Notice how it is NOT scrunched up against the vertebrae? Notice the purple arrow? The end of the spinal cord that is just sort of floating there like it should be? AMAZING. BEAUTIFUL. Deep breath of thanksgiving to a fabulous Lord and surgeon.

 

Third.... the green arrow. Notice how clear that area looks? Notice how white it is with fluid? Notice again how just pretty it is? That should be TONS of stress on Nathaniel's little body all gone!

 

Fourth... notice all the yellow arrows? Yea, me either! The area that had been previously filled with all that junk and pebbles is now much, much, much clearer. The neurosurgeon on duty today was so impressed with this image. He said he looks at these things all day long every day, and this is beyond phenomenal. He said Dr. Sun did an EXTRAORDINARY job. I have to agree... and I have to thank the Lord above for his hand in this.

 

I seriously was crying tears of relief in seeing this image.

 

We are not out of the woods yet. There are some questionable spots on the brain MRI, and we are still waiting for further confirmation on what those are. And Nathaniel is still in the "lay flat and hold still" stage, which is hard on his little body. He HATES the compression socks, he is tired of holding still, and he is getting some bed or pressure sores from all the laying down. But we are making progress and GOD IS SO GOOD!!

 

So rejoice with me on how FABULOUS his spine looks!

Praise the Lord for his faithfulness and goodness with me.

Praise the Lord for leading us to Dr. Sun and his meticulous attack of the issues.

And hit your knees with me at the foot of His throne begging for His will on the brain issues.

 

As always,

we LOVE you,

we are SO THANKFUL that you are taking this journey with us

and we FEEL your covering of prayer in our life.