Monday, March 9, 2009

CCAM Up Close and Personal

If you have never seen a sonogram picture, this might look like mashed potatoes to you, (they all did to me until I had seen about 20.) So many of you have prayed for Joy and her condition to change or stay stable that I thought you'd like to see what it really looks like. What she has is called CCAM (Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation.) Kudos to my photographer hubby who got a somewhat clear picture of the print. I tried maybe 20 times and all were blurry!
Start with looking at the top of the picture. See the little bright white dots that make an arch? That is her spine. She is facing downward, and her head is on the right side. Notice the bright white cluster that makes up her jaw, head, etc. Okay are you with me? I know it's hard if this is new to you! The tumor is made up of many cysts, and it is outlined by a dotted white line. You can see black dots inside of it, which are some of the larger cysts. From this picture, taken Feb. 10th, you can see that it is the size of her whole lung, which is a little alarming. However, we are still stable and continue to be told that if she is born with the tumor the size it is in this picture, she could still breathe and may not even need immediate surgery. What an amazing thought...and one that keeps us praying for it to shrink!!

On a different subject, the update on Charlie is that she spent the night, (now two nights ago,) vomiting from 11 pm-4 am. The Dr. warned me that since one of the things that she is on would loosen the mucus in her chest--much needed since that's where her cough has come from for the last month and we had no idea--and it might collect in her tummy and make her nauseous. That is an understatement for what happened. Sean was home and we took turns with her but it was rough! It went on every 20 minutes or so that whole time. Yesterday she was much better and slept all night last night. And so did we. If I haven't said it before, this parenting stuff can wear you out. I've read about so many kids being sick right now and my advice (not that anybody asked,) is to revert back to the newborn days and sleep when they do. And call your momma and complain. She'll understand.

4 comments:

Carley said...

I am so glad last night was much better and that everyone slept! You are a great momma! Hang in there...this too shall pass..especially now that you know really know what the problem is.

Jamie said...

Hang in there kiddo! We are all praying for you guys. Just remember that it will get easier with time. It is so great that Charlie is getting that gunk cleared out of her lungs!

Jenny Seymore said...

I'm glad that ya'll are rocking a little better today than yesterday. I am still home with a sickly little man but he is showing signs of feeling better. I think it's past time for all of us to have nothing but peace, health and happiness in our homes! That's my current prayer anyway!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing the sono photo! Looking at it makes me so thankful for the gift of medicine and the wise doctors who are able to decipher images like that one! I'm sorry to hear about sweet Charlie... sounds like one of those "it gets worse before it gets better" scenarios. Hang in there!!! And I can't wait for the next time I see you lugging your complete crew around church again!