One test down and one more (MRI)to go! The great news is that today's esophagram showed no stricture or narrowing of the esophagus at the surgery site. Dr. Barnhart (his surgeon who preformed the TEF/EA repair...seen in pic with Benjamin at his appointment today) said Benjamin looked great and had even gained more weight than expected at this point. Benjamin weighed in at 9 pounds and four ounces (with a diaper and a tummy filled with Barium from his test...so he probably is right at 9 pounds or so...which is amazing!)and was about 22 1/4" long.
We asked Dr. Barnhart about future issues with his esophagus and he said since it looks good now the chance of narrowing in the future is only slight. We will go back for a checkup in six weeks at Children's.
We also asked for more information on what they will be looking for in the MRI on Thursday. Dr. B explained they are looking for any indication that Benjamin has a tethered spine which is very common in the group of anomalies associated with TEF/EA. We asked what the worst case scenario would be with a tethered spine. It would mean a surgery done by the pediatric neurosurgeon to release the pressure to insure that the spine would grow at a normal rate. If this was not done there would be issues in the future with mobility, ect. Dr. B insured us this surgery is an uncomplicated one as far as neurosurgeons are concerned and would mean a couple of days in the hospital. Definitely not as big a deal as the first surgery he had to repair the TEF. So it helps to know that the MRI (and putting him to sleep/venting him) is very necessary and that even if he has a tethered spine we know it can be fixed. Of coarse there are always possible complications...so we are just praying the MRI is clean and that we will not need to have any more procedures or surgeries.
We will be heading to Children's at 5:30 a.m. this Thursday to check in for the MRI. Since Benjamin is so small they will be venting him in the operating room and then will do an MRI that will take about 30 minutes. He should be asleep for about an hour or so. We hope to have the results Friday from the neurosurgeon.
Thanks to everyone for their continued prayers we will definitely update after we receive the results from the MRI.
4 comments:
Was just coming to see if y'all had posted anything before I emailed you! So glad to hear that today's test was a success! Hoping to hear more of the same on Friday. I can't believe he's nine pounds already!
Praise the Lord!!
oh mel! i've been keeping up via blog with you guys and am glad to hear good news. we'll keep praying for this thursday too!
What wonderful news! I'm so happy for y'all and will continue to pray. I also love Benjamin's new do! His hair is looking a lot like James did at that age. One day it just shot up and just recently started to lay down! So fun!
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