Today I had a doctor appt at Vanderbilt to find out the results from the MRI. Dr. Peitch, the head pediatric surgeon explained what he thought it could be. He didnt have any real diagnosis yet, as there is no way to tell from ultrasounds and MRI's what something really is, just speculation and things to rule out. Well radiology said in their MRI report that it was a Sequestration. If you google that you'll see that is a piece of displaced lung tissue. That would also include a form of blood supply going to it, and this they did not see. Dr. Peitch seems not to agree with this diagnosis and feels it could be a sequestration but also could be an adrenal hemmerage or an adrenal tumor. Andrenal Hemmerage would be something that just occured while she was very small and is no longer active. This would require no surgery and no further treatments other than watching it. If it is an adrenal tumor, then they would have to remove it and depending on whether or not it was malignant, determine other follow up courses of action. If its a sequestration, they would have to do surgery at our convenience, to remove it just because it could get an infection later on in life, because its a piece of tissue.
So there are still no real answers, but a few things were ruled out. Its not Wilm's Tumor, as that would be a kidney mass, and they have determined it is not on the kidney. The kidney is functional and normal, this mass is above it either pushing on the adrenal gland or part of the adrenal gland.
They did another ultrasound to compare to the others and determined the mass did not grow. It is still the same size and shape with no new characteristics. This is a good thing. So as of now, the opinion of the doctors at Vanderbilt are to have the baby as normal, wait 1 month before we bring her in for testing. At that point they will do an ultrasound on her and then determine if they should do a CT scan or an MRI. They are hoping over time to be able to see how this mass changes. They also want to do urine tests to see if the hormone levels are higher than normal. If they are, that indicates a tumor on the adrenal gland, because adrenal glands produce your hormones. If she has to have surgery, they want to wait until she is 5 months or so to do it unless they determine it needs to come out earlier based on growth or unforseen problems that at this point he doesn't see (but doesnt know for sure since the mass is still unknown).
So thats the update we have.... I guess its not bad news, at least I get to have a normal delivery and have a normal first month with my baby!
9/22/10
9/19/10
MRI was Thursday - no news yet
We had our MRI on Thursday at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. I sat in a tube for 2 hours straight with my arms above my head and I couldnt move ( I couldnt even if I wanted to, I was in a very small pediatric tube). It was no fun at all. After that they just said "thanks, we'll have a full report in 48 hours". So I will know next week. My appointment with the doctors is on Wednesday so I expect to have a little more information by Wednesday. The most I will probably find out is 1. a better idea of the location of the tumor 2. estimated time of possible surgery (when she is first born vs. a few months old) 3. where I should deliver 4. how I should deliver (C-sec or vaginal) 5. what hospital (vanderbilt or williamson county). These are the main questions that will help us all feel like we can plan a little better for the birth and aftercare.
Thanks for everyone's love and support. I am grateful to have so many friends and family that love us so much and keep us in your thoughts and prayers:)
Thanks for everyone's love and support. I am grateful to have so many friends and family that love us so much and keep us in your thoughts and prayers:)
9/10/10
News with Indie, Pregnancy and so on.
So I am just getting around to posting and update. Sorry for the delay and I know many family and friends are eager to know exactly what is going on, and so am I.
Indie:
The doctor called me in mid August and told me Indie had some type of mass on or near her left kidney. This is a call you never want to get and I was completely heart broken and devistated. I spent a few days crying and not understanding and then started to demand more answers. I dont even want to get into the emotional details, I think anyone could imagine and understand the feelings that would come with this news. I had another ultrasound scheduled with a Perinatologist to over this with me. I went in, they did the ultrasound and then he pointed to the big white circle that was as bright as bone in her belly and told me this was not suppose to be here. They were unsure of what it was, but he thought possibly a wilms tumor which is very rare (500 cases a year). This was just a guess.
I made an appt with Vanderbilt Children's Hospital next to get another opinion. 2 weeks later, got in with them. They basically told me the same thing, they were unsure what it was and wouldn't give me any real answers. They said it could be adrenal, could be renal or could just be near there. This means it could be on the kidney or the adrenal gland or something else. They do know it has no blood supply of its own and it hasn't really grown much since it was first discovered (3cm). I think it has grown a little but its all at the discression of the ultrasound tech who is measuring a blurry ultrasound picture. I think she said 3.22 cm after the last ultrasound.
They scheduled me for a Maternal Fetal MRI at Vanderbilt this coming Thursday at 1pm. They hope to at least get better depth perception and a better view of what its attached to and when they should take it out.
As far as Indie's health, everything else looks perfect, her head, lungs, heart, bowels, liver etc, they all look great and her growing is 60th percentile. As far as my health, no gestational diabestes or high blood pressure or water retention and no other problems.
They want me to deliver her at Vanderbilt to play it safe. They are willing to induce at 39 weeks to help with scheduling. They have no answers at this time in terms of should I get a c-section, when would Indie have to have surgery to remove this mass, is it cancer or not, is it lung tissue that is just displaced or something more serious... no answers.
We hope to have more answers the following Wednesday after the MRI.
We are praying for the best but preparing for the worst, just to be safe. We are keeping positive and trying not to worry as much as we can. We want to focus our time and attention on what can be done rather than what has already happened. Keep us in your thoughts.
Lindsay
Indie:
The doctor called me in mid August and told me Indie had some type of mass on or near her left kidney. This is a call you never want to get and I was completely heart broken and devistated. I spent a few days crying and not understanding and then started to demand more answers. I dont even want to get into the emotional details, I think anyone could imagine and understand the feelings that would come with this news. I had another ultrasound scheduled with a Perinatologist to over this with me. I went in, they did the ultrasound and then he pointed to the big white circle that was as bright as bone in her belly and told me this was not suppose to be here. They were unsure of what it was, but he thought possibly a wilms tumor which is very rare (500 cases a year). This was just a guess.
I made an appt with Vanderbilt Children's Hospital next to get another opinion. 2 weeks later, got in with them. They basically told me the same thing, they were unsure what it was and wouldn't give me any real answers. They said it could be adrenal, could be renal or could just be near there. This means it could be on the kidney or the adrenal gland or something else. They do know it has no blood supply of its own and it hasn't really grown much since it was first discovered (3cm). I think it has grown a little but its all at the discression of the ultrasound tech who is measuring a blurry ultrasound picture. I think she said 3.22 cm after the last ultrasound.
They scheduled me for a Maternal Fetal MRI at Vanderbilt this coming Thursday at 1pm. They hope to at least get better depth perception and a better view of what its attached to and when they should take it out.
As far as Indie's health, everything else looks perfect, her head, lungs, heart, bowels, liver etc, they all look great and her growing is 60th percentile. As far as my health, no gestational diabestes or high blood pressure or water retention and no other problems.
They want me to deliver her at Vanderbilt to play it safe. They are willing to induce at 39 weeks to help with scheduling. They have no answers at this time in terms of should I get a c-section, when would Indie have to have surgery to remove this mass, is it cancer or not, is it lung tissue that is just displaced or something more serious... no answers.
We hope to have more answers the following Wednesday after the MRI.
We are praying for the best but preparing for the worst, just to be safe. We are keeping positive and trying not to worry as much as we can. We want to focus our time and attention on what can be done rather than what has already happened. Keep us in your thoughts.
Lindsay
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