Update from UCSF Visit
Cold and Rainy in the city
We awoke in the morning in what looked and felt to be Seattle with a lot of low lying clouds and a rain. We arrived at UCSF and our first appointment was with a wonderful ultrasound tech. Gillian waved for the camera. She must take after her mother. As the exam continued we were able to see wonderful pictures of what God is knitting together. I was somewhat nervous about seeing the lesion on her back. Above all, I was hoping that God had done a huge miracle and had healed this precious little girl. Then I remembered that one who created Gillian made her without imperfections. It is the world who tells us that she is imperfect. I choose to believe that the world is wrong. I chose to trust the perfect creation of the Lord. I put my trust in him and praise him that he would entrust us with this child.
After the ultrasound tech was done, a radiologist paid us a visit and continued the exam.
The radiologist was very nice and we talked at length about what she was seeing. In the end, she discovered that we have a very minor case of placenta previa. She also burned us a CD copy of the dicom images (medical images from the ultrasound). Long story short, that condition generally excludes people from the MOMS study. We left the ultrasound visit somewhat down but still feeling and believing that God is in control.
We then met with four doctors (plus a visiting doc from the UK) to discuss the risks and possible benefits from the prenatal surgery. We also met Stephanie a UCSF social worker who was absolutely wonderful. We all talked at length about the program and the initial opinion of Dr. Ball was that the doing the prenatal surgery in our case would be too risky. This is an answer to prayer. I had been praying that the Doctors would see what they needed to see. God delivers again.
The team at UCSF has been wonderful. We continued to discuss Gillian's prognosis and talked about moving forward with the post-natal surgery at UCSF once Gillian is born. I will admit that I am feeling both let down and relieved. We want the best care for Gillian and Christy -- and that is what we are continuing to receive.
Right now we are at our second exam of the day. We are having a fetal echo. I just heard Gilli's heart. The echo study was "unremarkable" -- meaning things are looking good.
We have had a bout an hour and a half break since the last appointment and we have made the rounds on the UCSF campus. We hit the bookstore. We hit the Rec Hall. We hit the Starbucks. Our last appointment of the day was with Dr. Gupta. Dr. Gupta is a neurosurgeon who does both pre-natal and post-natal surgeries on spina bifida kids. What a kind and gracious man he was.
All in all, this was a very good experience for us We had the opportunity to meet most of the team who will, in all likelyhood, be caring for Gillian.
It is now Wednesday AM and Christy is having the fetal MRI. I am taking this opportunity to finish this update and email it out to our family and friends. We will send another update out later this week with links to the images we were able to obtain from the various studies as well as specific prayer requests.
We are so blessed to have so many of you praying for this little child. I don't know what God has planned for her but I am dreaming big.
Todd
We awoke in the morning in what looked and felt to be Seattle with a lot of low lying clouds and a rain. We arrived at UCSF and our first appointment was with a wonderful ultrasound tech. Gillian waved for the camera. She must take after her mother. As the exam continued we were able to see wonderful pictures of what God is knitting together. I was somewhat nervous about seeing the lesion on her back. Above all, I was hoping that God had done a huge miracle and had healed this precious little girl. Then I remembered that one who created Gillian made her without imperfections. It is the world who tells us that she is imperfect. I choose to believe that the world is wrong. I chose to trust the perfect creation of the Lord. I put my trust in him and praise him that he would entrust us with this child.
After the ultrasound tech was done, a radiologist paid us a visit and continued the exam.
The radiologist was very nice and we talked at length about what she was seeing. In the end, she discovered that we have a very minor case of placenta previa. She also burned us a CD copy of the dicom images (medical images from the ultrasound). Long story short, that condition generally excludes people from the MOMS study. We left the ultrasound visit somewhat down but still feeling and believing that God is in control.
We then met with four doctors (plus a visiting doc from the UK) to discuss the risks and possible benefits from the prenatal surgery. We also met Stephanie a UCSF social worker who was absolutely wonderful. We all talked at length about the program and the initial opinion of Dr. Ball was that the doing the prenatal surgery in our case would be too risky. This is an answer to prayer. I had been praying that the Doctors would see what they needed to see. God delivers again.
The team at UCSF has been wonderful. We continued to discuss Gillian's prognosis and talked about moving forward with the post-natal surgery at UCSF once Gillian is born. I will admit that I am feeling both let down and relieved. We want the best care for Gillian and Christy -- and that is what we are continuing to receive.
Right now we are at our second exam of the day. We are having a fetal echo. I just heard Gilli's heart. The echo study was "unremarkable" -- meaning things are looking good.
We have had a bout an hour and a half break since the last appointment and we have made the rounds on the UCSF campus. We hit the bookstore. We hit the Rec Hall. We hit the Starbucks. Our last appointment of the day was with Dr. Gupta. Dr. Gupta is a neurosurgeon who does both pre-natal and post-natal surgeries on spina bifida kids. What a kind and gracious man he was.
All in all, this was a very good experience for us We had the opportunity to meet most of the team who will, in all likelyhood, be caring for Gillian.
It is now Wednesday AM and Christy is having the fetal MRI. I am taking this opportunity to finish this update and email it out to our family and friends. We will send another update out later this week with links to the images we were able to obtain from the various studies as well as specific prayer requests.
We are so blessed to have so many of you praying for this little child. I don't know what God has planned for her but I am dreaming big.
Todd
posted by Todd & Christy Osterberg @ 8:55 AM
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