Our little miracle

We just wanted to give this small update regarding Dean. Tuesday he had another chest x-ray done and Wednesday we had our follow-up with the Pediatric Specialist to go over the x-rays, CT scan, Echo & EKG done on Dean since birth. The doctor met us in the exam room and asked us to come into to office so he could show us the x-rays on his computer. He started with the very first one and proceeded through all of them showing no change to the mass on Dean's lung. Prior to the one on Tuesday, his last x-ray was 5 weeks ago. At that point the mass was still the same: no change. However, when he pulled up Tuesday's x-ray, there was nothing there. Nothing there! I said, "I don't see anything." The doctor responded saying that it wasn't there! We just kept looking at the x-ray picture. I found myself staring really hard just to see if I something would appear that maybe even the specialist hadn't caught. All we saw was the tiny ribcage. We started asking questions like, "Do we need to have another taken? Maybe the x-ray was a false negative?" The doctor said the only way to know "for sure" was to have another CT scan done but he didn't feel it was necessary right now. It would mean more radiation exposure to Dean and he would rather not do that right now if it wasn't necessary.


When we met with after the first exam right after the boys were born, he had explained to us that when this type of mass is found on the baby while still in the womb, it is possible for the baby's body to reabsorb it...that is if the mass appeared closer to 20 weeks in the pregnancy. However, when it doesn't show up until later, there isn't enough time for that to occur. So, if the baby is born and still has the mass, it is very rare that it would be reabsorbed. There aren't very many of these cases to begin with, so when he talks percentages, it's out of a very small population (the largest case study only involves 40 patients!). He had fully prepared us to expect surgery from the beginning. We had asked for family and friends to pray that Dean could hold off until closer to 6-months-old to get the surgery and/or that it would disappear and he wouldn't need it at all. Even though we prayed that it would disappear, we really believed he would need the surgery.

As of right now, the next steps are to have another chest x-ray done in March when he's 6 months. If that is clear, he will have another CT scan when he turns 1 in September. If Dean ends up with several chest colds, he wants to know about it because he would have us get the x-ray sooner, just to be safe. We are amazed that it's gone and can't stop talking about it! These boys were a miracle to begin with, then their birth was a miracle and now this! We are so thankful and we wanted to let you all know how much we have appreciated your calls, prayers and emails.

We are looking forward to seeing more family in California next weekend...ESPECIALLY our roley-poley nephew, Gregory!! I've told Joanna that this will be one very disappointed aunt if Grisha's roles aren't as chunky and juicy as they appear to be in pictures and on Skype! I'm hoping the "object in the computer is larger than it appears!"

I've changed the picture at the top of the blog. If you want to see more, come to Westmorland on Saturday, 12/18 to see them and hold them in person.