12-23-2008 MRI day........

Here is a photo of me outside the hospital yesterday before Lillians arrival. (Yes, my eyes appear to be closed..lol) Today y that big ole belly has shrunk... I still look like I'm about 4 or 5 months pregnant. The doctor told me that they ended up doing a internal vertical incision for the c-section and the external skin line is horizontal. If we decide to have children in the future it will be up to the delivering doctor on future c-sections. I guess once a vertical is done then they like to stay on that path for medical reasons.

Here is another c-section prep picture:

Ok onto today's news... Ms. Lillian was scheduled for an MRI this morning at 10 am that was pushed to 1pm. They had initially decided to hold all feeds until after this test but then changed their minds and went ahead and started her on formula. I wanted to breastfeed or at least pump milk for her. The lactation consultant never really arrived until this afternoon after one of my Friends showed me how to do it. Back to my point... This morning they stopped her feeds at 5am in prep for the MRI b/c they wanted to sedate her a little.

Ken, Tori and I went with Lillian down for the MRI, after about an hour of waiting Dr. Dilustro came out and said that it is what he thought it was.. an Arachnoid cyst causing the blokage. He said that he wanted to finish reviewing the scans and would meet us in our room to discuss it further. They took Lillian back to the NICU and the nurse said that she was very worked up and really wanted to eat. She was so wound up that she knew that they could not have sedated her to much. I guess they hold off on feedings after this is done too. They went ahead and fed her b/c she was so active and worked up. By this time Ken, my mom, and her boyfriend had already called over and asked if she had returned and if they could come over. (My mom still hadn't) seen her. Well, she stopped breathing and they had to hook her up to oxygen. They said that this is an apnea reaction and it can happen with the sedative and then with food. They were keeping her on oxygen for the remainder of the night and hold off on feedings.

Back to Dr. Dilustro and the MRI, Lillian does have a mid-line arachnoid cyst. It is large, the size of a golf ball. (Quite the size for someone so small) He said that he is optimistic. With an arachnoid cyst, the brain tissue continues to develop. (This is good BUT the compression of that tissue can still cause damage) Only time will tell. We will have to look for milestones and etc. He said that if he were to only shunt her then he'd have to place to seperate shunts b/c he'd need to drain the ventricle(s) and the cyst. What he'd like to do is endoscopic fenestration. He'd go in through her ventricles to reach the cyst and basically drain and poke holes to see if he is able to get it to drain. Sounds perfect however, sometimes the cyst can reform and with in hours of them 'destroying' it. He said that he is going to attempt the fenestration and keep the external drain until he is able to see what will happen. He doesn't want to have to shunt her as a first step. Right now her surgery is scheduled for Friday. Please keep her in your prayers....

Ken took a few cell phone snaps of her today. Here they are...