April 11th

Headed back to OSU today to meet Dr. O'Shaughnessy, the Fetal Specialist. He did an ultrasound and also did an MCA which checks blood flow to the brain. Everything seemed to look okay. The tumor hasn't grown since last week and the blood flow is good to the baby. The tumor appears to be mostly external which is also a good thing. The tumor is also looking cystic...which means it's not taking a lot of blood. The only area of concern is that Kate has some excess embryonic fluid.

He explained all of the scenarios. Basically here are the things that can happen:

-The tumor can stay the same size or get smaller and the baby can continue to have very little blood go to the tumor. The baby will make it to 37 weeks and they will perform a C-Section and then do a surgery to remove the tumor. This is the option we are praying for!

-Frogger could bleed where the teratoma connects to it. That could be a bad scenario. It would require a blood transfusion which could be done at OSU.

-The tumor could grow. The more it grows the more little Frogger's heart has to work to keep the blood flow going to it and the body. If that continues then it could be very bad for Frogger's heart. The options are to just let it be and see what happens or they could attempt a prenatal surgery. They would pull the baby out, remove the tumor, and then put the baby back inside Kate. This is a very risky surgery. But Kate and I both agree that if it came to choosing between just riding out what appears to be heart failure and taking a chance with a surgery...surgery it is. OSU is not able to perform such a surgery and the doctor told us that Philadelphia is best in the nation at prenatal surgeries. Kate has relatives close to Philly so that could work for us.  

We have an MRI tomorrow that should help reveal more about what the tumor looks like and will confirm that it is mostly external. Then we have to come back on Monday. Dr. O wants to closely watch this tumor and see if anything is pointing to one of the scenarios above. This will require weekly ultrasounds at OSU at least for the next 2-3 weeks. 

We are very happy to have everything looking good today. I agree with everything that the doctor said...minus one thing. He said we want that tumor to stay small and we also do not want it to bleed and for that to happen we will have to get lucky. We smile because we know that "luck" has nothing to do with it. God's in charge and will decide which of those scenarios above he wants us to go through. We pray and ask that it's scenario 1. We will wait and see what He does. 

Thanks so much for the prayers! We appreciate that and know that God is listening. I told Kate that the neat part is that we get to look at lil Frogger every week! God bless!