Preliminary MRI Report!!!

We received the preliminary report yesterday from our MRI. I wanted to wait until we heard from the Pediatric Surgeon, as it seems as though he is the final MEDICAL authority on our case. We have not heard from him yet, but I did want to share what we found out. Regardless of what he says, God is good and I think it is important to share all He has been doing with Faith.

Dr. D called me yesterday morning, after he had been out of the country all last week. His tone seemed very encouraging, but it seemed as though I held my breath throughout the entire conversation. So here is what the report showed:

• Faith’s head and brain look perfect! They are normal and healthy. Praise the Lord!
• Her spine is still curved. They thought she might have spina bifida, but her spinal cord is healthy and intact. Therefore, she is not paralyzed, and they can treat her scoliosis at a later date. Praise the Lord!
• She has a diaphragmatic hernia, which they believe is caused by the pentalogy of cantrall. She does have a partial diaphragm, and it is only missing on the left side. Praise the Lord!
• Her right lung is perfectly healthy and normal, and her left lung is compressed. This is caused by the abdominal organs that have pushed up through the chest cavity. Dr. D says that if they can get those organs resituated, that lung should heal and function as it should. Praise God!
• Her heart is 100% inside the chest cavity, and is PERFECTLY HEALTHY. No heart defects were detected. Thank you, Jesus!
• Her right kidney is healthy, but they could not see her left one. Dr. D explained that there are tons of people walking this earth with only one healthy kidney. He did not feel like this was a huge obstacle. Amen!
• Some of her abdominal contents are still outside the body. Dr. D wasn’t too terribly concerned with that as well. Praise God!

Some of these findings sounded pretty scary on the phone. But Dr. D said he feels like the biggest hurdle at this point is that there is no bony structure (sternum) over the chest cavity. But this is where Dr. K comes in. He is the guru in chest wall and abdominal wall reconstruction. He has yet to review our report, so we haven’t heard from him what his prognosis is. I asked Dr. D how he felt about the report, and he said that he was much more optimistic, and all of this news was like rays of sunshine. We are so thankful that God is still in the miracle business. We are seeing miracles being performed in our little girl, and what a blessing that is! God is faithful! Regardless of what Dr. K reports, we will continue to pray for God’s will to be done in the life of our Faith. He’s still knitting her together, piece by piece, and what a testament she is to the power of our Father and the power of prayer.

I will update again as soon as I hear from Dr. K. Please continue to pray for Faith and for our family. We have definitely been blessed to be covered in prayers from all over the world! Our little girl is so loved and we are so thankful for each of you!!!