You know what I really love?? Hearing a doctor tell you something's not possible and then proving that with God, all things ARE possible.......

This time last year, it was discovered that Brenden had some pretty major instability in his cervical spine (the neck area) that was a resulf the the Chiari decompression/laminectomy he had last May. It wasn't quite severe enough to require surgery, but if at any point it started getting worse, we'd be headed into the OR. The instability could cause the vertabrae to collapse on one another, so obviously it was a big deal. At the appointment last September, Jonathan asked Dr. Jane, Jr., Brenden's neurosurgeon, if the instability could improve. He very definitively said no, but it could get worse.

Fast forward to a few months ago....I started noticing some shakiness in Brenden's hands/arms when he was doing something with them mid-air, like eating or drinking. The area on the spine affected by the instability as well as the cyst, is where the nerves for hand and arm function are located. So needless to say, I was worried, knowing that surgery was the only option if anything had worsened.

Today, Brenden had x-rays, which only checked the instability, not the cyst. It's been a while since the neurosurgeon walked in with a smile on his face and instead of closing the door and sitting on the stool, he walked in and immediately said, "These films look great....let me show you." There is barely any curve (instability), I couldn't believe the difference between the last x-rays and the ones from today. I shared my concerns about the shakiness so he had Brenden hold onto his (Dr. Jane's) thumbs and Brenden could practically pull himself up, so there is really no concern that the instability or the cyst are having any effect on anything. Kids w/ SB, hydrocephalus, and Chiari malformation are already at risk for fine motor weakness, so he's pretty confident that theren's nothing to worry about. He was comfortable waiting 6 months for an MRI to look at the cyst, and we trust him completely.

So now, we have 6 more months to pray away this cyst.....God gets big high fives today because, well, we've witnessed a miracle....there's really no medical explanation for improvement of the instability......

And, oh, Madelynn survived her first trip to UVA, as did Jonathan and I. Despite some crankiness after a 2.5 hour drive and even more waiting for appointments, she was a trooper :)