My mom asked my uncle to pray for the baby a while back. He is very involved in his church, and he said he would add the baby to their prayer list. He also suggested that my mom start saying this simple prayer over and over again, and that he would start saying it too. He knows someone who was extremely sick and has since made a complete recovery. They truly believe that the power of this prayer is what has brought him back to health.
Now, a little background--my friend Kelly "S" has been one of my closest friends since high school. She moved across the country years ago. We lost touch for a long time, but through facebook we reconnected. We have picked up right from where we left off.
Kelly tells me that her mother in law ("Missy") put us on their prayer list at their church. (I'm thinking "that's my uncle's church!" I'm thinking they must know each other...!)
Then, Kelly tells me that she received an email from her father in law asking for prayers for "Donna and her baby." No one knows there is even a connection between us at this point! Prayer requests from NJ all the way across the country and it turns out to be one of my closest friends who is receiving this request!
I later received an email from my mom that she forwarded to me from uncle. The email is as follows:
"I just got an e-mail from Kelly's mother in law about this. I saw Donna's facebook entry about somebody named "Kelly" offering prayers for the baby, didn't realize the connection. It is a small world.
I am good friends with Melissa and Michael S. Known them for several years. Both very active parishioners.
Melissa e-mailed me that she and Michael are offering their prayers. She also included Donna the baby in prayers. I am confident she will continue them.
About the prayer: remember me telling you the other night about the guy who was very sick and not expected to live?
I offered his sister the prayer given to you. I'm told she and her husband said the prayer over and over. Last I heard the man was doing well and was on the road to recovery. Want to know who the man was? Melissa's brother.
What a small world!!!
I did change some names to protect their privacy. Thank you to anyone and everyone who has offered prayers for our baby!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
What we have been waiting for: Good News!
Eliana had a follow-up appointment on April 12, 2011. All of these appointments started getting jumbled together and I questioned whether or not I was really supposed to make that appointment or not. Thankfully, I was not going crazy.
Eliana first had to be weighed in. She's a whopping 13.8 pounds!
The whole time, I was a little irritated as to why we even had this appointment. After all, no further testing had been done, so what was there to discuss? The doctor came in and I was ready with a notebook of questions. I wasn't going to let this be a waste of an appointment! I always come out of there feeling so confused since we have been seeing so many different doctors there.
I asked my questions and then Dr. Hedrick asked when the last time was that she had eaten. The last time she ate was abut 4 hours ago, so it was just about mealtime. "Perfect!" she said. She wanted to see if they could squeeze us in for an ultrasound since she would be due for one again soon anyway. She wanted the hemangioma and lung mass (BPS) to be checked.
We went down to outpatient registration and signed in. We waited for over an hour. I understood that they "squeezed" us in, but this poor baby was starving. And Karalyn was in desperate need of a nap. She would not fall asleep. Both of them took turns being heard!
Kara made friends with a little boy, maybe about 13 years old. She started a game with him where she would share her doll and he would hold it and hug it and give it back to her. Then she would throw it. And repeat...again...and again... It kept her very occupied. I thought it was so sweet that this little boy was trying to make the wait easier for her.
Next thing I know, Jim takes the double stroller into the hallway thinking that he can get Kara to sleep. I'm sitting there in the waiting room, playing Words With Friends on my iPhone and I see Jim and the new friend "racing" down the hallway. I think he was having more fun than any of them! What a sight it was...
The ultrasound was done in no time at all. After all that waiting, it was over so quickly.
Dr. Hedrick told us that we could check in and see if she was still there when the ultrasound was finished. She said if she wasn't, we could have her paged. I have gotten more crazy looks when I ask to have Dr. Hedrick paged.
It was obvious that we would not have any answers that day. I called the next day and felt like I didn't get anywhere. I received a call around dinner time from the nurse practitioner. She said that she could read the results for me but that she still had some questions for Dr. Hedrick.
What she was about to tell me turned my world upside down! She said that the hemangioma had decreased in size and for some reason...the BPS wasn't seen AT ALL. There can be a multitude of reasons why BUT this whole time that is what we have been praying for!
I hung up and the phone (still quite composed) and Jim didn't have any idea what the news was that I just heard. I started crying tears...tears of joy. I somehow managed to get the words out.
He has answered...was what I kept thinking!
Dr. Hedrick called and repeated the words of the nurse. She said we will have her liver checked again in July and we may not even need to ever have her lung looked at again because the mass is so small.
This is the happiest news I could have gotten. But still, my heart goes out to any family who did not receive the wonderful news that we received. It was the worst feeling in the world for me to think of this little girl having to go through surgery.
Eliana first had to be weighed in. She's a whopping 13.8 pounds!
The whole time, I was a little irritated as to why we even had this appointment. After all, no further testing had been done, so what was there to discuss? The doctor came in and I was ready with a notebook of questions. I wasn't going to let this be a waste of an appointment! I always come out of there feeling so confused since we have been seeing so many different doctors there.
I asked my questions and then Dr. Hedrick asked when the last time was that she had eaten. The last time she ate was abut 4 hours ago, so it was just about mealtime. "Perfect!" she said. She wanted to see if they could squeeze us in for an ultrasound since she would be due for one again soon anyway. She wanted the hemangioma and lung mass (BPS) to be checked.
We went down to outpatient registration and signed in. We waited for over an hour. I understood that they "squeezed" us in, but this poor baby was starving. And Karalyn was in desperate need of a nap. She would not fall asleep. Both of them took turns being heard!
Kara made friends with a little boy, maybe about 13 years old. She started a game with him where she would share her doll and he would hold it and hug it and give it back to her. Then she would throw it. And repeat...again...and again... It kept her very occupied. I thought it was so sweet that this little boy was trying to make the wait easier for her.
Next thing I know, Jim takes the double stroller into the hallway thinking that he can get Kara to sleep. I'm sitting there in the waiting room, playing Words With Friends on my iPhone and I see Jim and the new friend "racing" down the hallway. I think he was having more fun than any of them! What a sight it was...
The ultrasound was done in no time at all. After all that waiting, it was over so quickly.
Dr. Hedrick told us that we could check in and see if she was still there when the ultrasound was finished. She said if she wasn't, we could have her paged. I have gotten more crazy looks when I ask to have Dr. Hedrick paged.
It was obvious that we would not have any answers that day. I called the next day and felt like I didn't get anywhere. I received a call around dinner time from the nurse practitioner. She said that she could read the results for me but that she still had some questions for Dr. Hedrick.
What she was about to tell me turned my world upside down! She said that the hemangioma had decreased in size and for some reason...the BPS wasn't seen AT ALL. There can be a multitude of reasons why BUT this whole time that is what we have been praying for!
I hung up and the phone (still quite composed) and Jim didn't have any idea what the news was that I just heard. I started crying tears...tears of joy. I somehow managed to get the words out.
He has answered...was what I kept thinking!
Dr. Hedrick called and repeated the words of the nurse. She said we will have her liver checked again in July and we may not even need to ever have her lung looked at again because the mass is so small.
This is the happiest news I could have gotten. But still, my heart goes out to any family who did not receive the wonderful news that we received. It was the worst feeling in the world for me to think of this little girl having to go through surgery.
Eliana: What's in a Name?
I think that of all three of my girls, Eliana's name is the one with the most meaning behind it.
When we had our 20 week ultrasound when I was pregnant, I called CHOP to make our appointment for all of the prenatal testing. They gave me the link to their website and said not to google it or look it up anywhere else. (Yeah, right).
The site had about ten or so videos that we contemplated watching. We watched the first one and thought that was a huge mistake. It was the day this other couple had found out that their child had a lung mass. Fast forward to the end of the video and the little girl was a happy, healthy , joyful 5 year old beautiful little girl. A girl who had overcome this scary diagnosis. (A girl named Eliana.)
The next day, I said to Jim that I really liked that name. We thought it would be special to name our little girl after someone who was such an inspiration to us. Someone who gave us so much hope that our daughter would grow up to lead a happy and healthy life.
Surprisingly, he really liked the name too. I was thinking that I wanted her name to have meaning. At that very moment, he called me to tell me the meaning of the name! Talk about coincidence and perfect timing. Eliana means "He has answered" and "sun." How perfect is that. I felt such an overwhelming outpouring of love, support, and prayers from so many friends and family. I feel like our prayers have been answered.
We mentioned the name to Gia. That's the way we do it--we all have to agree on the name. She even loved it. At that moment, we knew our little girl would be named Eliana Marie.
We had our follow-up appointment at CHOP about 8 weeks later. We waited to get called back for our consultation. Our appointment was scheduled for 4:15. It was 4pm. The clock in the waiting room played music every hour, on the hour. You'll never guess what it played..."Here Comes the Sun." I had a feeling of comfort come over me and I somehow knew that even through all this worry, everything was going to be okay.
Looking back, we couldn't have named her anything more perfect.
When we had our 20 week ultrasound when I was pregnant, I called CHOP to make our appointment for all of the prenatal testing. They gave me the link to their website and said not to google it or look it up anywhere else. (Yeah, right).
The site had about ten or so videos that we contemplated watching. We watched the first one and thought that was a huge mistake. It was the day this other couple had found out that their child had a lung mass. Fast forward to the end of the video and the little girl was a happy, healthy , joyful 5 year old beautiful little girl. A girl who had overcome this scary diagnosis. (A girl named Eliana.)
The next day, I said to Jim that I really liked that name. We thought it would be special to name our little girl after someone who was such an inspiration to us. Someone who gave us so much hope that our daughter would grow up to lead a happy and healthy life.
Surprisingly, he really liked the name too. I was thinking that I wanted her name to have meaning. At that very moment, he called me to tell me the meaning of the name! Talk about coincidence and perfect timing. Eliana means "He has answered" and "sun." How perfect is that. I felt such an overwhelming outpouring of love, support, and prayers from so many friends and family. I feel like our prayers have been answered.
We mentioned the name to Gia. That's the way we do it--we all have to agree on the name. She even loved it. At that moment, we knew our little girl would be named Eliana Marie.
We had our follow-up appointment at CHOP about 8 weeks later. We waited to get called back for our consultation. Our appointment was scheduled for 4:15. It was 4pm. The clock in the waiting room played music every hour, on the hour. You'll never guess what it played..."Here Comes the Sun." I had a feeling of comfort come over me and I somehow knew that even through all this worry, everything was going to be okay.
Looking back, we couldn't have named her anything more perfect.
March 1, 2011 EKG & ECHO
Elaina had to have an EKG and an echocardiogram done to make sure that the liver mass was not affecting her heart or other organs in any way. I expected to go have the test done and then be released with good news. It did not even occur to me that the doctor would have anything new to report. But he did. I started to sense something was a little out of the ordinary because the ultrasound tech called in a doctor to come look at the screen. He did not sound too alarmed and just said that they would need to look at it a little more closely. At this point, the same music that I put on to soothe Eliana to sleep, had also soothed Jim to sleep. I started nudging his shoulder to wake him up. I always wonder how he can stay so calm. I am the complete opposite.
An hour later, we had to meet with the cardiologist. He reported that her heart is functioning perfectly; however, there is a tiny piece of tissue that was seen and will have to be monitored. Hopefully this tissue will stay the same or disappear...hopefully it will not get any bigger...hopefully.
We left the hospital again, and as we walked to our car, I just couldn't help but wonder why? Why after all that she has been through (that we have been through) why is there this one extra thing to worry about? Why is there one more test that this little girl will have to go through?
An hour later, we had to meet with the cardiologist. He reported that her heart is functioning perfectly; however, there is a tiny piece of tissue that was seen and will have to be monitored. Hopefully this tissue will stay the same or disappear...hopefully it will not get any bigger...hopefully.
We left the hospital again, and as we walked to our car, I just couldn't help but wonder why? Why after all that she has been through (that we have been through) why is there this one extra thing to worry about? Why is there one more test that this little girl will have to go through?
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