There has been mass confusion taking place regarding whether or not Emri did, in fact, have a pneumothorax...or if it was actually just a hyperinflated top lung lobe. The doctors came in to explain to us that because there was so much uncertainty, and because the location of the puzzling pocket was hard to see in an x-ray, they wanted to do a CT scan. Now I know many of you have gone through CT scans...and I know that they now tend to be much safer than they used to be...but it was none the less making me uncomfortable. Emri is so small, and has been under the x-ray machine more times than I can count in the past 2.5 years. I really don't enjoy the idea of exposing her to the amount of radiation it takes to take a picture by CT (several hundred x-rays at once). Because of my uneasiness with getting a CT, they sent the senior radiologist down to Emri's room to talk with us. I thought he would relay some of my fears, but really, he just confirmed that, yes, even though they have gotten better over the years, it is still "last resort" when the choice is made to order a CT. They do not enjoy exposing small kids to that much radiation and know that in Emri's case, she does tend to get more x-rays and scans than the average person in the first place-and will continue to need many more of them in the future. He did make the point, however, that the risks of taking a guess with her lung condition outweighed the risks associated with the radiation exposure in a CT. After he left, I asked the doctors on the floor if they would feel comfortable just letting us pray for a bit, getting one last x-ray, and then if the x-ray showed the same ambiguity, resorting to a CT. The doctors repeatedly voiced their doubt and skepticism that taking another x-ray would show anything more than the last one they took not but a few hours ago---but they felt comfortable with giving us a few minutes and one last x-ray. They kept saying that while they "knew" a CT would be necessary, they would get this x-ray for our own peace of minds as Emri's parents. Brett and I stepped outside to pray with Brett's mom, dad and baby Abe and then continued on to Emri's room to pray with her. We finished as the x-ray technician showed up to the room.
My thoughts while the x-ray took place were, "God, use this as an opportunity to show yourself here, in this place, to these people. Make yourself known here."
20 minutes later, the same floor doctors came in and let us know that the senior radiologist was very happy with the pictures we captured by x-ray and that he was able to mark the outline of both lungs. There was, in fact, no pnuemothorax---just fluid surrounding the lining of the lung... Thank you God. We are now fully confident that we need to be treating for a lung collapse and can stop all pneumothorax treatment.
I know this may seem small...but I am feeling overwhelmed with thankfulness and can't help but stand in awe of our Savior's powerful presence here. If you have been praying in earnest for our little girl's health...please stop to thank God wholeheartedly for his amazing work here, in PICU room 14 at Johns Hopkins on Christmas Eve.
We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Brett put our thoughts on Christmas perfectly in the following words...
"Remembering at this time of year, how our Father in Heaven loved us SO much, that he sent his Son Jesus to become a baby, human flesh, and endure the torturous wrath of mankind that we may have everlasting life, praising him forever in Heaven someday! Merry Christmas and may we all dwell on the incredible sacrifice that Christ has made for us, and in return, offer our lives as living sacrifices to his work and the Gospel!"
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