Well that wasn't expected...

On the 28^th of this month, we will officially be THREE YEARS post op, from Nathan’s Cranial Vault Reconstruction surgery. Three years?!?! There are times when it feels like we were fighting with insurance just last week and now we’re three years post op. Wow! I guess the time goes by, whether you want it to or not.

We made another trip to, Dallas, Texas and followed up with Dr. Fearon in 2013, when Nathan was one year post op. We received the amazing news that Nathan was doing wonderfully and we didn’t need to follow up with Dr. Fearon, until Nathan was 5 years old or in 2 more years. Just like the year before it, the next two years flew by and here we are today.

We’ve scheduled our 3 year post op trip to, Dallas and it is a trip we genuinely love and look forward too. ( Our family loves Texas! ) Before we go see Dr. Fearon though, there are a couple of things on his ‘To Do’ list that we have to complete. One of those things is for Nathan to receive a brain MRI. The MRI looks at not only the brain, but also Nathan’s skull. Until Nathan’s bones have finished growing, he will frequently be receiving these scans to be sure his sutures, ( or plates of his skull ), are growing and healing accordingly and that the sutures haven’t fused together prematurely, again.

Nathan had a brain MRI preformed this past Tuesday, March 3, 2015. Though the MRI itself went flawlessly, the MRI showed something completely out of left field; something we weren’t expecting at all! In the simplest of terms, the base of Nathan’s brain is not where it should be. Nathan’s brain is dipping below its skull and pushing against his spinal column.  His brain is literally falling outside of the protection of his skull. The formal diagnosis is a Chiari I Malformation. 

So what now? We are currently waiting to speak with a pediatric neurosurgeon at our local hospital to decide what to do from here. There is a huge possibility, that Nathan could need surgery. They could remove the c1 of Nathan's spinal cord, so that the brain doesn't place any pressure on the spinal cord. Or they could decide that since Nathan is asymptomatic to leave everything alone and just monitor him. Regardless of what happens, at the end of the day there is part of Nathan's brain, that isn't where it should be. 

God has gotten us through brain surgery before and if need be we know He will again. Until He opens a door, we’ll praise Him in the hallway. (: