Awesome news....no tether

I've mentioned briefly before that Jetta possibly might have a tethered spinal cord. What that means is...basically, during the early stages of pregnancy, the spinal cord normally develops and will float (for the lack of a better word) within the spinal column and as you grow, it continues to float and grow with you, without any problems. However, a tethered spinal cord attaches to a bony structure, typically the lower lumbar vertebrae and as you grow it will stretch and will no longer get the proper blood flow and may cause bladder and bowel problems, as well as possible paralysis in your legs.

When we first came home and during Jetta's first doctors visit, the pediatrician noticed a fairly prominent dimple at the base of her spine and top of her butt. She told us that she wanted to have Jetta tested to make sure that she didn't have a tethered spinal cord. Since Jetta was so small, she wanted to wait a bit, as the chance of anything severe happening was very low, until Jetta was a little bigger and also more adjusted and attached. So, at our last visit, I asked her if we could arrange for the test. They usually do an MRI in order to detect if the cord is tethered. She agreed that she felt Jetta was ready and so the appointment was scheduled. It was last Thursday, July 30th. While I was very anxious to have the test done and to determine if she in fact had a tethered cord and if surgery would be necessary, I also wanted to get it done, so that if she did need surgery, we would be able to begin to mentally prepare.

So, last Thursday we headed over to Cardinal Glennon Childrens' hospital in St. Louis, for her appointment. As always, she was a trooper. They had to start an IV and she cried a bit, but Shannon and I both assisted in holding her down and I was near her head promising her pumpkin bread from Starbucks when this was all over and is usually an effective tool to keep her happy. And as many of you know, she absolutely loves pumpkin bread, so she was a very big girl and as promised, we stopped on the way home and she got some later that night. Once they got the IV started, which they got on the first try, as she has great veins in her hands and the nurse was amazing. They gave her some medicine to help her relax. It was funny to watch her, you could tell that everything around her was moving in slow motion (in her head) and that she was probably seeing multiples. We talked to her a bit and we asked if she felt good and she just giggled. She giggled a couple of times and that made us laugh. They then let us give her a hug and a kiss and then took her away for the procedure. They told us the test would take about 40 mins and that we could go and grab a bite to eat. We knew she was in good hands, because amazingly, her doctor that was in the room for her sedation and monitoring has two adopted daughters from China and one of them from the exact province where Jetta is from. We were very happy to know that she would do whatever was necessary to make sure Jetta was okay during the test, since she had two of her very own precious gems at home.

We decided to grab a bite to eat, to try to help pass the time, and had an amazing piece of pizza, yes I said amazing, from the hospital cafeteria. The cafeteria was amazing and had a ton of choices. After eating we headed back up and after about 10 minutes they came and got us. When we went into the recovery suite, she was already a little bit awake and was not happy (which is a very typical side effect of the sedation drug they used to put her out). I held her and after about 40 mins she started to wake up more and ate a few popsicles and was less agitated. So, they took her vitals one last time and let us leave. She was still very groggy, but did very well.

Once I got home, I just kept her still, as their coordination is affected by the drugs and she would be a bit unsteady on her feet. By 5:00 that night she was back to her usual self. I had taken the day off to make sure she was okay. So, now the test was over and knew that we just had to wait to get the results.

I called the pediatricians office first thing Friday morning and asked that if they heard anything that they contact, full well believing that it would be next week before they had anything. However, to my surprise, my phone rang around 4:30 Friday afternoon. I saw it was the doctors office and my stomach did flips. While I wanted the results, I also was scared. The nurse told me that she had Jetta's results and that the test came back "NORMAL". I was so happy, that tears welled up in my eyes. I was so glad to know that my baby girl wasn't gonna need to have surgery on her spinal cord and that her little dimple is just how she is constructed. So, after a long 24 hours, we got the news we hoped to get and now we know we have a healthy little girl and have that out of the way.

Thanks to those of you that knew she was going in and for following up and asking how she was. As always, your friendship means a ton to me and am happy to have you in my life.