An Update on Leah

Today has been a day of ups and downs, to say the least. This morning we felt like we were starting to get a handle on the whole situation, as we made our way to the hospital for Leah's CT scan. At the hospital, problem after problem occurred, and we found ourselves there a lot longer than we planned on being. Leah was not allowed to eat for 4 hours before the scheduled CT scan, so she last ate at 4:00 am. She didn't actually get the scan until around 11:00 am, and didn't get to eat until 11:30. Poor little girl went almost 8 hours without eating! To add to that, she didn't get a nap at the hospital either. Our amazing little girl was awesome, though. She didn't fuss at all. In fact, the only crying she did was when they put the IV in and when she was actually getting the scan. Praise God, she didn't have to be sedated, they have a neat way of holding her still without any medication. With that over, we thought we were waiting until Monday's appointment with the retina specialist in Miami. This was not the case.

A couple of hours after we got home, we got a call from the ophthalmologist saying that she had already seen the images from the CT scan. She pretty much ruled out retinoblastoma. Praise God! We are still going to meet with the specialist on Monday, to confirm that, and also to see if he can determine the cause of the scarring. The CT scan didn't answer that question. The CT scan also revealed that the ventricles in Leah's brain are slightly larger than normal. She sent the images to a pediatric neurologist and he agreed that they were slightly enlarged, but wasn't too worried. However, they told us that we need to take Leah into the hospital tomorrow to get an MRI. This should give them a better picture and let them know what is going on with the ventricles. The worst case scenario is that it could be an excess of fluid in the ventricles. In that case, they would need to put a shunt in to drain the fluid, and possibly other treatments. The best case scenario is the encouraging words our pediatrician gave me on the phone this afternoon. She said that the ventricles in a baby's brain are sometimes enlarged. Simple as that. So, Leah gets the MRI tomorrow at 2:00, we see the retina specialist in Miami on Monday at 8:00, and next Friday we come back to the hospital to meet with the pediatric neurologist at 9:30. Hopefully, after meeting with some of the best doctors around, we will have definitive answers as to what is going on with our baby. Until then, please continue to pray.