On Wednesday January 7 we had two doctors appointments. The first one was with our fetal specialist. He is very cut and dry--not our usual type of doctor, but oh well. He reminds me of Ben Stein, but without the sense of humor. We had another 8 am appointment so I took a half day and Mike's work is flexible and he can go into work late.
We were just going for a follow-up for the ventriculomegaly. To our surprise, the ventricles were measuring 8.2 mm! At our previous 2 appointments the ventricles were measuring 12 mm, with the normal range measuring under 10 mm. At our last appointment we were told we would have to come in to monitor the ventricles to see if they stay the same or get worse. No one ever mentioned the possibility that they could self correct, and self correct so quickly! Woohoo! So hopefully we have one less medical condition to worry about when baby is born. The technician and doctor also took a look at the heart. the technician kept looking at something and I forget what she called it (dang pregnancy brain! I forget everything unless I write it down...maybe I should get my ventricles measured...) but the doctor was more concerned about finding a hole in the heart (a common condition with children with Down syndrome) but as of last Wednesday he did not find one! Another, woohoo! He said because the ventricles have gone down in size, as of right now, he is giving us the OK to deliver in Riverton (our hospital of choice) with our beloved doctor! We go for the echocardiogram in 2 weeks so they will probably have the final say on where we deliver.
Our second appointment of the day in the afternoon was with our regular OB for our monthly checkup. She was happy the ventricles had gone down in size and even mentioned if we had our 20 weeks ultrasound a week or two later we may not have even picked up on the ventriculomegaly, which she would not have sent us to a specialist, and we would not have had a diagnosis. I am grateful to have the diagnosis before birth, even though it makes me a giant stress-ball, I am happy I can use the time to do as much research as possible.
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FAQ
Well if she doesn't have ventriculomegaly anymore, does she not have down syndrome?
Nope, she still does. Ventriculomegaly was one of those things where some people have it and are completely unaffected by it, but can cause some delays in others. It does not need to be present to have a diagnosis of Down syndrome. Whatever was not allowing the spinal fluid to leave the brain and circulate has self corrected itself.
What type of things can you research? Pretty much everything! I have already read the book From Diagnosis To Birth and we both are reading the books that the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation have already given to us (I read the chapter on what causes Down syndrome and find the science behind it fascinating!). I have been doing the research on how Medicaid and Social Security will work, if at all for our family.
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