Isabella...

Wow...where to begin? Isabella has been having back pain for a few months now, off and on, which I thought was probably just growing pains. But when the pain started to wake her up at night and moved into her leg, we went to the pediatrician to try to figure out what's going on. About three weeks ago, she had a renal ultrasound to rule out any kidney problems and those came back negative and so did the urine tests. Our next stop was the orthopedic doctor on Tuesday, who suspected some scoliosis, but assured us that scoliosis doesn't usually cause pain. Her hamstrings, heel cords and back muscles were really tight and she was only able to bend about twenty degrees at her waist. He did some xrays and recommended that we start physical therapy this week and go to All Childrens Hospital in St. Petersburg for a neurology consult and possible MRI. I tried to get an appt at All Childrens, but was having trouble getting through and by Friday morning, after several sleepless nights for her and countless bottles of Ibuprofen, we decided to just take her directly to the ER at All Childrens. They did the MRI late on Friday and they found a large mass along her spine that stretches from her L1 to L3 vertebrae. It's attached to the bone and deteriorating it, as well as causing injury to the nerves and causing some curvature. On the one hand, we were relieved to solve the mystery of her pain, but on the other hand, it's not news any parent wants to hear.
Yesterday she had a needle biopsy of the mass, and the preliminary tests show that it is benign, which is great news! We have to wait till Monday or Tuesday to get the full results. In any event, she'll need surgery to have the mass removed and possibly more surgeries to repair the bones as she grows. We're waiting for the doctor to make rounds this morning...hopefully they'll let us go home to wait for the results and a surgery date.
I'll try to update the blog when I can and maybe even start a Caring Bridge site. In the meantime, your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated! We know God is in control and had this all planned out before Isabella was even born...pray that we trust his will!

At the ER on

Isabella and her buddy, Jonathon, who made getting the IV A LOT easier!