Tuesday, February 15, 2011

"Little" and Seeing Movement

Today Bryan and I went to two different doctors while Nana kept Seth for us. We saw my OB, Dr. D and things are looking good with "Little." That's what we are calling Baby On the Way right now. It's something that just kind of happened one evening. Bryan was talking and he happened to say, "when little is born..." and so it has kind of stuck. I think it's kind of cute. Things are starting to feel real. Sure we saw the heartbeat and the spine at 8 weeks and we have known that another baby is on the way for a while, but it is just so different the second time around. In the beginning especially there were days when Seth and I would be so consumed with something that I would forget about being pregnant. That's not so much the case anymore, especially since my belly is already protruding out. But I think things are different because we kind of know what to expect. We know about all the appointments and what happens at them. We already have baby stuff. We know what to expect with a newborn. We know about the sleepless nights and the overwhelmingly wonderful emotions. So we haven't really worried about much when it comes to "little." We have been concerned about the effect of the massive dose of steroids that have been going through my body on the the baby, but we have been assured that they should not affect him/her. I think after hearing that tiny heartbeart today we were again reminded that God is in control and everything is going to be just fine especially with "little."
After a nice lunch we then headed over to see Dr. K the neuro-ophthalmologist from Vanderbilt who comes to BG every Tuesday (thankfully). Dr. K was pleased that the steroids seem to be helping although they are causing blurriness in my good eye, but that is only supposed to last for the next week and half and then it should clear up once I am done with the oral steroids. Two days ago I could only see light and darkness in my right eye. Today I can tell if there is movement in the far peripheral vision. Definitely better. Not anywhere close to normal eyesight, but maybe we are headed in that direction. The steroids have been known to bring the vision back faster. We talked more specifically about all the test results from Thursday's adventures at Vanderbilt. The lumbar puncture ruled out infections, viruses, parasites, etc. The bloodwork all came back negative for those things too. I asked specifically about the inconclusive MRI results and based on the cases that Dr. K has seen, he seems to think it is going to be a diagnosis of MS. We can't know this for sure, if it even is MS, until after the baby is born and they can do another MRI with contrasting dye. Once we can see more on the MRI we might have a definite diagnosis.
I am ok with that. A diagnosis of MS is not the end of the world. It is manageable and there are a million things that could be worse. So I am not worrying about it. I am going to live my life the best that I can and I am going to cherish all the many blessings that I am given. One good thing about the IV steroid treatments though is that they have been known to delay or even prevent the onset of MS in patients that have received them so that's another reason I am thankful for the treatment I have been given. That's what I know for now and it might be a while before I know anything else. I will keep updating about the hopeful increase in vision, but now it's time to get back to living my life and enjoying each moment. Hopefully pictures and fun stuff will be showing up again soon. Thanks for all the love, my friends!

2 comments:

  1. You guys have been on my mind so often lately...and in my prayers. Thanks for the update.

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