From: Kevin and Sherry Upson
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2003 3:18 AM
Subject: Prayer Request
Please pray for me and my family. For those of you who don't know, Kevin and I are expecting our second child in October. We are 10 1/2 weeks along. At my regular OB appt on Thurs, the Doc performed an ultrasound and informed me that I had a cyst on my left ovary. It was 5-6 cm (over two inches. The baby was just under an inch). I was to follow up in two weeks for another ultrasound. If they had not disappeared (as most do) by 14 weeks or so, they would do surgery to remove it.
Tonight, I had some sharp pain on my lower left side. Fearing rupture or 'torsion' (twisting), I called our Dr on call who advised me to go to the local ER.
They performed an ultrasound and found two cysts on the left. Together, they measured over seven cm (three inches) long and almost five cm (two inches) wide. They checked the right ovary and found a 2cm by 3 cm cyst with a darker circle inside of it measuring about 1 x 1.5 cm.
They checked the baby and we saw a black line on the light baby. The line starts about mid-skull in back and goes to the bottom of the neck. The back of the baby's head is shaped like a peach (or more bluntly, a butt), indenting to the black line. They wouldn't tell me much. It could be as serious as neural tube defects... we won't know until my regular OB gets the results from the ER and reviews them.
Please keep us in your prayers. We are obviously praying, but we can use all the prayer support we can get.
Thanks so much,
Kevin and Sherry
Dr. M,
Last Thursday, you informed me that I had a cyst on my left ovary. So, when I had sharp pain followed by dull pressure on my lower left Saturday nite, I called the Dr. on call at Gentry and he suggested I go to St. John's ER.
They did a transvaginal ultrasound as well as a regular ultrasound. Please call them for the results. This is what I came away with:
They found two cysts on the left, divided by a septum. Together, they measured over seven cm long and almost five cm wide. They checked the right ovary and found a 2cm by 3 cm cyst with a darker circle inside of it measuring about 1 x 1.5 cm.
They checked the baby and we saw a black line on the light baby. The line starts about mid-skull in back and goes to the bottom of the neck. The back of the baby's head is shaped like a peach (or more bluntly, a butt), indenting to the black line. They wouldn't tell me much...
I was hoping you could contact them for the tests (also did a urinalysis detecting an elevated white blood cell count - I was diagnosed with a mild yeast infection last Monday).
I also had ALL of my bloodwork (about 50 ml) done on Friday. They gave me oxygen up in Anesthesiology to combat the "vaso vagal" (sp?) reaction I have. It took a team of three to get all of the blood! I'm not sure when the results will be in, but whatever is completed should be there for you to see.
I appreciate your attention. I am nervous right now and would really appreciate anything you could tell me one way or another.
Thanks so Much!
Sherry Upson
March 31, 2003
Hi, Friends,
Thank you so much for all of the encouraging e-mail. It helps so much to know that we are being lifted on wings of prayer.
No new info on the ovarian cyst. It is considered quite large. If it continues to grow, it will have to be removed surgically. That won't happen until at least week 16. Tomorrow we hit 11 weeks.
We don't have a firm answer right now, but my regular OB is sending me for a "level 2" diagnostic ultrasound. His referral indicated a strong possibility that the baby would have Turner Syndrome. If this turns out to be the final diagnosis, our little girl will be missing a chromosome. Not XX or XY, she will be XO (missing some or all of the other 'X' chromosome). A couple of good articles on TS:
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/53/60686.htm?lastselectedguid=5FE84E90-BC77-4056-A91C-9531713CA348
http://www.turnersyndrome.org/resource/faq.html
Nothing is certain until we have the ultrasound and, possibly, genetic counseling. We'll keep you updated as we find out anything.
Please continue to lift us in prayer. Thanks so much,
Sherry and Kevin
April 9, 2003
Good Morning, Friends!
First, let me begin by thanking you for all of your prayers. We have definitely felt them!
Now, for the update. Nothing new. I know. That's not what I was expecting either. Here's what happened:
We got to the Doctors office and filled out paperwork (shocking!), to include genetic stuff...
We were called back to speak to a genetic counselor. She told us that our ultrasound clearly indicated cervical edema (swelling at the back of the neck). This is not uncommon and could mean a variety of things.
* It could be that the swelling disappears by itself and a perfectly normal baby pops out!
* It could lead to fetal edema (full body swelling) which is fatal. So, we have two extremes - or it could happen to be anything in-between!
* It could indicate problems with chromosomes (most likely) such as Turner Syndrome or Down Syndrome.
* It could even indicate heart problems.
We spoke with the counselor and told her that "termination" IS NOT an option (before she had a chance to even suggest it). Babies are gifts from God. Period.
We also told her that we did want to know what, if anything, was wrong and not just wait until she's born to see. So, we discussed CVS and Amniocentesis. *CVS could be done within the next few days, carries a 1% chance of miscarriage and is less accurate than Amniocentesis. * The Amnio is done at 15-18 weeks, carries a 0.5 % chance of miscarriage and is 99.9% accurate.
Our next stop was with the actual Doctor. She confirmed that my cysts are quite large, but not growing (good news) or shrinking (not so good news). We have about a month so see if they shrink before surgery is indicated. The baby is active (we are pretty sure she was sucking her thumb), has a strong heartbeat and definitely has cervical edema. We could see the fluid trapped under her skin. But, she is still too small to tell anything for sure.
We have another appointment scheduled for May 2 at 8:30 AM. At this appointment, they will do another ultrasound to check her heart and her position. Then they will do the Amnio. They will have to "grow" some chromosomes from the cells they extract and then examine them before we find out anything for sure.
So, it's a waiting game. For now, we pray that she (I'm convinced it is a girl, although it's too soon to tell) is healthy. I'll keep you updated as we learn anything new.
Again, thanks for all of your prayers.
May 2, 2003
Well, folks, here's the latest:
We went in for the Amniocentisis today (ouch! ). No results until about 16 May.
To get ready for the Amnio, they did an ultrasound and here is what we found out:
** the cysts are still there and are the same size. Looks like surgery within the next month.
** the cervical edema (swelling at the back of the neck) is still there.
** she is still small for her gestational age.
** now, we have found something new. The baby has what is called an omphalocele (say: ohm-fal-o-seal). What that means is that her abdominal muscles didn't join correctly around week 3-4 and now her intestines have herniated into her umbilical cord. Sometimes this happens and self-corrects by week 11. I am 15w3d. There is a possibility that some of her organs could follow suit (liver, gallbladder) and herniate into the umbilical cord, too.
What does this mean?
** it means that as soon as the baby is born, it will be wisked away to the local Children's Trauma Center and undergo surgery to repair the omphalocele. If there are organs involved, it could mean two or more surgeries. We are looking at up to two weeks in NICU.
** It means that the probability of chromosomal disorders raises from 6-12 % to 35-58%. This could be Turner Syndrome or a trisomal disorder. That is where there are three of a given chromosome, instead of the normal two. Down Syndrome is a trisomy of chromosome 21. From everything I have read, any trisomy leads to mental retardation. With trisomy of 13 or 18, it could lead to death.
All of that said, we won't know anything for sure for two weeks. Please keep us in your continued prayers. I know God is in control and will not give us anything we cannot handle. As for me, I have peace. I don't know what the future holds, but I do know Who holds the future. Of course, He can still choose to heal the child completely. I know we'll make it through one way or another.
Thank you for your prayers. I'll let you know whatever we find out whenever we find it out!
Sherry
May 5, 2003
Good Afternoon, Friends!
I am typing this as I sit in St. John's Hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas.
First of all, we were missed by the tornadoes. We were missed by three miles on one side and four miles on the other.
Now, as for why I am here. We had our Amniocentesis on Friday morning. Friday night, I had a gush of Amniotic fluid. After consulting with the on-call doctor on post, we went to the ER. After waiting about two hours, they came in, did a "litmus" test - type thing and said it wasn't amniotic fluid. Saturday, I continued to leak fluid. We consulted the doctor again and again, we went to the ER. This time they confirmed the leakage was amniotic fluid. They did an ultrasound and I saw how much fluid had leaked. Over half was gone. After consulting with the ER's OB on call (my OB was on vacation), it was suggested I stay overnight for observation and meet with the Dr. on Sunday. We agreed.
As you know, Sunday was a day of twisters, the area's worst single day since 1977. Since the Dr. (Dr. Amy Merchant) does rounds at four hospitals, she didn't quite make it here. She called the nurse and asked me to extend my stay. "OK, if you insist I stay in bed and be waited on hand and foot…." We heard the baby's heartbeat at 160 last night. I felt better after hearing that.
They woke me up this morning to do a follow-up ultrasound. Heart still beating at a strong 160. But, less fluid.
We finally got to meet with the doctor today. I really like her. She is gentle and caring, but doesn't pull any punches and doesn't patronize me. I am going to stay in the hospital a few more days to see if we can stem the flow of fluid. At this point, she said that the chances of carrying to viability (about 24 weeks) were about 30 %. She does agree with our choice to continue and carry this baby as long as possible and will help us try to get this baby to term. It is a "wait and see" game at this point with the pregnancy. Our biggest concern now is infection in me. If an infection starts, it can get out of hand quickly and threaten my life. Once we get the pregnancy back on track, we will work on making decisions about how to proceed.
Everyone around here has been wonderful and caring. Dr. Merchant knows of a church based support group of people who have been through similar things and she said they are on call 24/7. She is going to tell them about us, in case we need them. I thought that was very nice.
Please continue to lift our family up in your prayers. It has been tough on all of us, especially Hunter. He doesn't really understand what is going on. Kevin has been a gem through all of this. I am just sitting (or laying) here being an incubator and praying that I start doing a better job! ;-)