Please Pray for This...

Yes---that is Audree's hand. The little hand that is also attached to her her chubby little arm which she continues to have problems with. As many of you know, Audree has been receiving therapy from ECI for tightness in her arm and hand. Occupational Therapy was out again on Monday to work with her and expressed some concerns about lack of progress in her right hand. She began to visit with us about talking to her pediatrician about further evaluation on it. I contacted her pediatrician on Tuesday to schedule a consultation. They got us in on Wednesday and upon examining Audree, he said that he didn't see any major differences in her arms, but that he did notice some resistence in her right as opposed to her left. He continued by saying that he trusts ECIs judgement and the fact that they are the ones that have been working with her and have seen the progress that she is and is not making. He decided to go ahead and do a thorough evaluation to see what might be the root of the problem with her tightness and difficulty using that hand. She has trouble voluntarily releasing toys from her hand and when it comes to weight bearing activities, (i.e. learning how to crawl, and perform her therapy tasks), she does not tolerate opening it up much, and instead, tends to draw it back and not want to use it. The concern is that maybe she has some sort of neurological issue causing these problems. He talked to us about the next steps and the nurse came in and visited with us about scheduling, etc.

Dr. Young has ordered Audree to have an MRI on Thursday, May 14 at 7:30 a.m. She will be put into a state of concious sedation, (an I.V. drip that will almost immediately put her to sleep enough for her to be relaxed for the MRI and as soon as the drip is stopped after the MRI, she will wake back up). My understanding is that they will do an MRI "with and without contrast," meaning, they will do a normal MRI first then injecting dye into an I.V. will do another one in hopes that it will show something of substance about what is going on. After the results from the MRI are in, her pediatrician wants them read by the nearest and best pediatric neurologist whose office is in Lubbock. They have begun the referral process to that doctor and I assume we will get an appointment date very soon. The nurse told me that after the results of the MRI are sent to the neurologist's office, he will read them and if the results are "imminent" that they will rush her in a.s.a.p. We are hoping that won't be the case though! The professionals that I have visited with in regards to her problem have assured me that whatever they problem, it is definitely not major. The tightness and lack of usage is not near as bad as it could be, so hopefully we are only looking at a minor issue. They are going to increase her occupational therapy time per month to hopefully further her progress.

As you can imagine these last couple of days have been hard for me to swallow. I am most worried about the sedation part. I know worrying doesn't help anything. I am trying not to worry, but it's hard. Please pray for the following things:
That I can put it in the back of my mind and rest assured that nothing is majorly wrong.
That the sedation and MRI go well and quickly, (especially since she can't eat that morning when she wakes up).
That the neurologist will find nothing seriously wrong and give us further insight on how we and the therapists can help her through this.
That the Lord will take care of the finance part of it all. I met my deductible when I had Audree in August, but she has her own seperate $2000 deductible, (most of which they are going to want up front when we register at the hospital). I am still paying off my medical bills from August and her medical bills will be very high with this procedure. Those that know me, know that this bothers me very much. I don't ever like to be in over our heads with finances. I need to trust God with this as well.

I will post updates as they happen. Until then, thanks for your prayers and concerns. Love you all....Janna