Josiah Update #2 - 4/27/09

We finally heard back from the doctor's about Josiah's MRI & ultrasound. The reason for the delay? The doctor had a death in his family and had to leave suddenly for the east coast for a week - so our prayers have been with Dr. DeMatta and his family during their loss.

After talking with Dr. DeMatta and his nurse here is Josiah's update...
1) The ultrasound came back showing that Josiah's kidneys are functioning at 100% - praise the Lord!
2) They ruled out that he has any narrowing of the spinal column going up into his skull (it's common when there is a spinal abnormality and can cause complications in the nerve flow thru the spine) - his spinal column is normal size and all electrical impulses and nerve messages are flowing perfectly - praise the Lord!
3) They got good pictures of the area where his deformed vertebrae is protruding and as they told us before, it's protruding, pushing the nerve cord out with it but it looks stable, nothing is being crushed/pinched right now and it is up to the neurosurgeons to evaluate and decide at what point it might need intervention (surgery, etc.). They say sometimes they need to intervene right away and other times they can just watch it and wait for years. They will also be able to tell us how they think this area of his back is going to progress as he grows. Praise the Lord - they can see clearly now what is going on with these detailed MRI pictures!
4) They found a cyst in the area of his deformed vertebrae. It's a fluid filled cyst and is very typical in children with spinal abnormalities. However, they are concerned about it because of it's location (inside the spinal column). They told us that sometimes these cysts are no big deal and just go away on their own and other times they can cause problems because they keep growing, causing pressure, pushing on the nerve cord, etc. Praise the Lord - they found it!

So what now? We are being referred to the Pediatric Neurosurgeons at Doernbecher in Portland. They will evaluate both his protruding vertebrae and the cyst and then evaluate him and consult with us about what they think is going on and what we need to do, what's our plan, etc. That's the next step and it means more waiting right now. They should be calling us in the next week or two to schedule our meeting with the neurosurgeons.


How are we doing? Josiah is doing great! He doesn't have a clue that anything might be wrong - he's a busy, busy, busy 16 month old. And he is such a happy little guy - smiles all the time, laughs out loud, loves to make us laugh - learning new words every day - he's a joy to all of us. Dara is doing great. She understands what's going on with her brother and prays with us for his healing. She has her class at school praying for him as well. We are doing good. These results are good in that they ruled some things out, verified that his kidneys are functioning 100%, his nerve impulses are all flowing perfectly, etc. We are thrilled to hear that! Obviously, we are concerned about this protruding vertebrae, what it could mean for his nerve cord and all the parts of his body that this area effects and now also this cyst and what exactly it's doing in there. I think we expected to feel relieved after this just to know what's going on but we don't feel that way because there are still so many unknowns. And until we meet with the neurosurgeons and really get some questions answered and hear their insight, we're not exactly sure what we're dealing with.

So for now, please continue to pray for Josiah's complete healing of his back. Pray that we get to see the neurosurgeons sooner rather than later - it's hard to wait. Pray that we have wisdom as we hear all of these things from the doctors and that we know what to do. We are still believing for a miracle for Josiah - that his back would be healed every step of the way. Right now we're believing that this cyst would totally be gone next time they go to look for it. We serve Jesus and one of His names is Jehovah Rapha "God IS my HEALER" and that cyst is nothing for Him to heal - praise the Lord!


Thank you so much for all your prayers! It's a blessing to know so many are praying for Josiah. We will post again when find out when our appointment with the neurosurgeons is so you can be praying specifically that day. Thanks again - love & blessings!
Shawn & Dana
P.S. Thanks so much, Jenifer (www.polkadotphotography.net) for such great pictures of our little guy - we love them! These are from his one year shoot - we'll post some newer ones next time.