A day at DuPont

  DuPont hospital is situated among the horse farms of Wilmington DE., or so it seemed to me as we sipped our coffee and made our way through the scenic route to get there. :) I had never been there before, and I was genuinely impressed with the facility and the service. I thought the valet parking was an added bonus.

  Yesterday was the day that we were scheduled to do a series of tests/ultrasounds on Gracie to be sure she didn't have any more of the conditions, that can be tied to the CHARGE syndrome, that we were not aware of. The letters in the word CHARGE stand for a number of body functions that can be affected by having the syndrome. C=coloboma (eyes), H=heart, A=atresia choanae (closed area in nasal passage) R=retardation of GROWTH or development (I did NOT say they are retarded :), it simply means their growth and development may be slow) G=genital abnormalities, E=ear abnormalities.

  We arrived at the hospital at 8:00 a.m. and made our way to the cardiology unit. We filled out the usual papers and shortly after were called into the Dr. office where they gave us a little hospital gown to put on Gracie. She cooperated for most of the things the nurse wanted to check- weight, length etc. and did well for the EKG, but she had an issue with the whole blood pressure procedure (cutest little blood pressure cuff ever). After this the Dr. ordered the ultrasound part of the appt. to be done. Dutch and I worked together to keep Gracie entertained and tried to keep her from grabbing the ultrasound technicians hand etc. All in all Gracie was fairly cooperative through the procedure. I didn't realize how much I was holding my breath about the outcome of this test until I left out a sigh of relief when the Dr. said- "Her heart looks great. It looks normal for a 5 month old. I see no complications relating to CHARGE syndrome". Praise the Lord!! I guess thinking of living here at the Haft and having to have Gracie go through any major or minor heart surgery seemed a little overwhelming to me. How would we juggle everything? So it was a big relief to know that she doesn't have any heart condition. The next appt. was to check her kidneys, not that that's one of the major things they find affecting CHARGE syndrome, but more because its something that in general can be affected by genetic disorders. But "Sue" our ultrasound tech assured us that she has two kidneys, and they're in the right place!! Another good report!! The last test was her ears. Now we were quite certain she could hear to some extent but were not sure how much etc. This test was a 2 hr. test where they put the little stickers on her- behind her ears, and on her forehead, and there are wires they connect to this and they do a computerized test of sound waves etc. (glad somebody understands that stuff and knows what they're doing, it was just a bunch of squiggly lines to me). We needed her to be still or sleep for this procedure to get a really good reading. I was hoping she would do just that, but babies can be unpredictable... praise the Lord she slept/nursed the whole way through. The outcome was this- the inner ear etc.is developed, she doesn't show signs of underdevelopment and that is great news. She does, however; show signs of her earing being somewhat impaired right now, but the tech was fairly sure that was because she has fluid laying in there that needs to be drained. Tubes inserted in her ears will most likely be something she will need in the near future. So, in other words, her hearing is probably muffled right now, but it doesn't look like permanent hearing loss. Oh and a bonus to this appt was that the Dr. that did this test was a Christian, and she shared a piece of her testimony and of how God had worked in her life. We invited her to come to the Haft, and she "you haven't seen the last of me". Those are the kind of things we are always looking for on our life journey and especially through the journey we are on with Gracie. God moments! Divine appointments!

  Thank you all for caring and praying. The texts etc. mean so much. Thank you. It was a good day!