Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Headed to SLC

I'm having a hard time even knowing what to say right now. A lot has happened in the last week. I'll try to keep it brief.....

Annabelle's pain was getting worse last week so I called the Dr to see if there was anything we could do for her. She agreed that we needed to get the MRI done sooner and the only way to make that happen was to admit her to the hospital and have it done in-patient. We checked in Friday morning and still ended up having to wait until Saturday morning for the scan. When the anesthesiologist came to get me from the waiting room he said, "I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is she handled the anesthesia well. The bad news is, there's something in there." How comforting, NOT! Once we were back in her room we got the initial diagnosis. They said it was a Schwannoma. A tumor that forms on the end of a nerve. But they also said they would have another radiologist, who deals more with neuro stuff, look at it on Monday. We came home Saturday afternoon with instructions to call the neurosurgeon on Monday for an appt. At that point we knew we would be heading to a children's hospital to have it removed. When we saw the neurosurgeon yesterday afternoon, that's when things changed.
After he and the other radiologist looked at the MRI they both agreed it was not a simple Schwannoma. It involves some of the bone of her spine as well. It is larger than originally thought and the neurosurgeon told me he has never ever seen anything like it. His hope is that the Dr in SLC will have atleast seen one before. So at this point nobody knows what the tumor is. That is a little unnerving. Ok, a LOT! We are off to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake to see the specialist there. The tentative plan is that she will have a needle biopsy tomorrow, an office consult on Thursday and surgery on Friday. The only thing we do know is that we probably won't actually know what it is until she is on the operating table and they open things up and test it. Then that will determine how they proceed with the operation. So really, that means we don't know anything at all.
Josh drove home from Bozeman late last night so that he can go with us. We'll be staying at Josh's parents house until we find out what is going on. It's weird packing for a trip when you don't know how long you'll be. We could be home next week, or Annabelle and I could be there for months. It's all unknown right now. I'm holding together pretty well right now, and I know that it's due to all the many prayers on our behalf! I waited until the girls were in bed last night and then I bawled my eyes out until Josh got home. Annabelle is fairly oblivious to what's going on. All she knows is that her "shoulder" hurts and we are going to grandma and grandpa's in Utah. She doesn't really want to see any doctors in Utah, but she'd like to go to Chuck E Cheese's (she's never been, just seen commercials) and the zoo! Thank you, thank you for all your prayers, love and support!

7 comments:

Laura said...

Oh my goodness, Sally... Your family is in our thoughts and prayers. Keep us updated on what's going on and travel safe and all that!

The Page Family said...

We hope everything turns out for the best. Stay strong and lean on the Lord. Thoughts and prayers are withh you all.

Danica said...

I am grateful you were able to get an MRI done earlier and find out that there is something causing all the pain. I hope and pray that the doctors at Primary Children's will be able to help. They are some of the best children's doctors in the nation.

Walsh Family said...

Our prayers are with you and your sweet daughter.

Melissa and Matt said...

We are also thinking of you guys. Hopefully after all of this she will feel much better and everything will be normal again. Stay strong!

Brooke said...

Oh Sally! I hope all goes well for your little family. We'll keep all of you in our prayers.

RJ said...

We've been praying and fasting over here in AZ - even Sophia is praying for Annabelle, we need to get them together someday, I have a feeling they'd hit it off :).